Vader - Welcome To The Morbid Reich review
| Band: | Vader |
| Album: | Welcome To The Morbid Reich |
| Style: | Death metal |
| Release date: | August 2011 |
01. Ultima Thule
02. Return To The Morbid Reich
03. The Black Eye
04. Come And See My Sacrifice
05. Only Hell Knows
06. I Am Who Feasts Upon Your Soul
07. Don't Rip The Beast's Heart Out
08. I Had A Dream...
09. Lord Of Thorns
10. Decapitated Saints
11. They're Coming...
12. Black Velvet And Skulls Of Steel
13. Raping The Earth [Extreme Noise Terror cover] [Digipak bonus]
14. Troops Of Tomorrow [The Exploited cover] [Digipak bonus]
Ladies and gents, let's have a look at one of the great moments of world cinema, a masterpiece of mass entertainment and witty dialogue, "Pulp Fiction":
VINCENT: (..) you know what the funniest thing about Europe is?
JULES: What?
VINCENT: It's the little differences. A lotta the same shit we got here, they got there, but there they're a little different.
JULES: Examples?
Vader plays seemingly the same shit as about a million other death metal bands, but it's the little differences that set them apart from a nameless mass and put them where they belong, at the pinnacle of death metal: occasional very melodic, short riffs; pseudo-choirs; surprising keyboards; whispers; non-conventional drumming. After the furious primal onslaught of Litany no one could have any doubts about Vader's place in death metal, regardless of taste. But even though every album afterwards was very solid, none of them reached the absolute heights of Litany, and every next one was slightly weaker than its predecessor, with Necropolis being really stale and simply boring.
Until now. Welcome to the Morbid Reich is, I'm very pleased to say, Vader's strongest release since the unsurpassable Litany. Another change of lineup must've been exceptionally good for the creative powers that Vader thrives on, because most of the songs are top notch, brimming with long-lost energy and verve. Vader seems to have mastered what Slayer made their trademark on Reign in Blood - they're able to make several songs played at the same tempo, yet every one of them is arranged slightly differently, especially drumming-wise, thus never boring the listener. Special kudos for "Don't Rip Beast's Heart Out", "Come See My Sacrifice" and "Only Hell Knows". These three songs could easily find a spot on the best Vader albums like De Profundis or the aforementioned Litany. The rest aren't far behind in terms of quality, together forming a very convincing album that, at least to these ears, has no competition among this year's death metal releases.
With bands like Vader, lack of progress or development isn't a bad thing at all. Album after album, they perfect their art, sometimes soaring higher than usual, like this year, but never really veering from their once chosen path. I at least don't expect anything else from these guys.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 8 |
| Songwriting: | 8 |
| Originality: | 7 |
| Production: | 9 |
 | Written on 24.09.2011 by Writes overly honest and totally subjective reviews when fancy strikes him. Which is not often. Which is probably good, all things considered. |
Comments page 2 / 2
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071  |
@Daniell sometimes a clear production does work like for instance for a band such as Dream Theater. I would hate a rough production on that sort of music And tbh RtL had a clear production for that time and a production perfectly fitting the album. But most death metal just dies a little to a lot when a clear production is employed is just like most funeral doom death/doom doom/death suffer at the hands of a clear production whereas most epic doom gains from it. So it's not a case of me wanting rough production on every single release around. But Vader would gain immensely if they get a rougher production and like I also said when they do away with the triggers. That would make it all sound a lot more organic and less processed.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996 
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| Daniell _爱情_ Elite Posts: 6061  |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 15.10.2011 at 13:49 Even though I was mainly kidding about your love for bad production, I agree with you to some extent. To some extent, because I think you're breaking world records in complaining about too clear production  Some bands, or even sub-genres, are better off with no-so-clear production. Black metal is the best example - even though lots of excellent black metal releases have good production (like Satyricon's "Rebel Extravaganza". As for doom, I don't really see why, say, Mourning Beloveth should sound better with worse production. Or Evoken, or Mournful Congregation, or Funeralium. I deliberately picked bands that I know you value (and so do I), that have very good, dare I say clear, production, and still their music loses none of its impact. But then we'd have to determine the definition of "clear production" - etc, etc etc. So it's quite pointless to go in that direction. The most neutral and universal thing to say would be that perception of production is as personal as the perception of the quality of the music itself. The sub-genre on which I completely agree with you about production is death metal. For example, I can't imagine Coffins' "Buried Death" (which I'm listening to right now) with more polished sound. 50% of this album's quality lies in its incredibly dirty, abrasive sound. Death's "Leprosy" is another good example. It benefits from dirty sound. Which is even more apparent when we look at Death's next album, "Spiritual Healing", which, at least in my opinion, suffers from too sterile sound. Examples are galore, and I'm sure you'd quote even more of them 
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| Daniell _爱情_ Elite Posts: 6061 |
Written by Coconut Racecar on 21.10.2011 at 05:27 Second worst, only after "Necropolis"... Go figure
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| Mattybu Posts: 2589  |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 15.10.2011 at 13:49 I actually somewhat agree here, but I've come to expect a certain kind of clarity on any CD with the Nuclear Blast label on it. Not too much rougher on this one, but it could give it more bite which added on to what it has could be monstrous.
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| JCJen7 Posts: 423  |
Written by Guest on 15.10.2011 at 12:36 I think I'm ruining the joke...
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| RavenKing Posts: 1941  |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 15.10.2011 at 13:49 I'm a Black Metal and Thrash fan and I think both genres die when production is too clear. Imo, any extreme metal genre asks for raw production. Just take Slayer as an example. Production on their early albums (until "Hell Awaits", maybe "Reign In Blood") suited the roughness and violence of the music. Now, listen to "World Painted Blood" or even "Divine Intervention" and tell me if their music benefits more from a raw production or a clear one. Perhaps I have this opinion because I'm old school and like my metal extreme but when it is polished to the point it removes the rough edges, I think it sounds boring and not genuine. Processed, indeed. Also, I think reverberation adds depth to the sound and helps a lot in creating an atmosphere. Finally, like you, I hate triggered drums.
---- They shake your hand and they smile and they buy you a drink They say we'll be your friends we'll stick with you till the end But everybody's only looking out for themselves And you say who can you trust I'll tell you nobody
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| Conemetal Posts: 819  |
Great review, thanks a lot, I'm going to get my Vader album
---- MUCH I LEARNED FROM MY TEACHERS, MORE FROM MY COLLEAGUES, BUT I HAVE LEARNED THE MOST FROM MY DISCIPLES
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| Conemetal Posts: 819 |
I got the album, it's great, like I read in this excelent review. Score seems a bit low
---- MUCH I LEARNED FROM MY TEACHERS, MORE FROM MY COLLEAGUES, BUT I HAVE LEARNED THE MOST FROM MY DISCIPLES
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| Electrohunter Posts: 1 |
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| theFIST Posts: 1061  |
Written by Guest on 25.09.2011 at 08:06 reading that comment now seems a bit strange..........
---- http://metalstormmusicianscorner.bandcamp.com Written by Warman on 07.11.2007 at 22:39
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| @gent_-_orange Posts: 905  |
Written by theFIST on 05.03.2012 at 22:46 Seeing as the album was released a couple of months before that comment was posted, I think he was being sarcastic 
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| Winterthrone Posts: 289  |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 15.10.2011 at 13:28 Every...lol! Then we would lose 90% of Extreme Metal...Marcel we are in 2012...Triggered drums can be used badly (over-triggering), but when used wisely they can be great. I think you tend to generalize things that cannot be generalized.
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