VULTURE "Ghastly Waves & Battered Graves" Album Review
VULTURE are a German speed metal band and this is their second full length album. This is the band’s first album under the Metal Blade Records banner and follows up 2017’s “The Guillotine”.
It’s fast, heavy, and above all else, it kicks ass! If you're a fan of old school thrash metal, you're gonna love this one. The band is a throwback to early 80's thrash/ NWOBHM, with elements of early Metallica, Sweet Savage, King Diamond, and Iron Maiden. The album kicks off with the track “Fed to Sharks” lead vocalist L. Steeler sets the tone early with his high screams and bottom sounding growls. It's a great way to kick things off and leads into probably my favorite track on the album. “The Garotte” which has a cool intro before slamming straight into a full-on riff attack. Dueling guitars reminiscent of early Iron Maiden, some killer King Diamond screams, what more could you want from a metal song? Other stand out tracks include the title track "Ghastly Waves & Battered Graves" with its catchy chorus and tremendous solo work from guitarists Genozider, and Outlaw. “Murderous Militia” and yes, more than just the name sounds familiar. It's not Metallica's "Metal Militia", but it has a whole lot in common. In the end, both songs flat out smoke. The final track is a cover of one of my all-time favorite Thin Lizzy songs "Killer on The Loose". Vulture has a completely different take on this song, but after a few listens it works, but it's still no Thin Lizzy.
Vulture has delivered a modern day thrash metal masterpiece!
The band had this to say about their latest release:
"We titled our second album "Ghastly Waves & Battered Graves" because it's catchy, cold and metal as fuck," Vulture guitarist Stefan Genozider declares succinctly. This is not an overstatement. The follow up to 2017's cult sensation "The Guillotine" and their debut release for Metal Blade, the new full-length captures the German crews dispensing scathing thrash at a standard that places them toe-to-toe with the best in their genre. It is also a dramatic step forward in terms of songwriting and execution. "With "The Guillotine" we really restricted ourselves to reproducing our debut EP. We wanted it to sound the same, both in the actual music and sound-wise, but we knew that this wouldn't work a third time, so we sat down and talked about what was missing in what we had come up with so far. From that discussion, the overall goal for our second full-length was to get more variation in our songs, work out more melodic parts and allow ourselves to slow down a little here and there."
