Artist..: VAK

Album...: The Islands

Genre...: Metal                      | Label...: Indie Recordings
Year....: 2023                       | Cat.No..:

R.date..: 2023-09-03                 | S.date..: 2023-09-01

Source..: WEB (16bit)                | Encoder.: libFLAC
Bitrate.: 999 kbps avg.              | F.Rate..: 44.1kHz

http://open.qobuz.com/album/vzhqz1mptobva

Disc 1 / 1

01. Passport                                                        2:59
02. Panorama                                                        3:16
03. Sewer Café                                                      4:22
04. Q & A                                                           5:05
05. Speed of Images                                                 8:36
06. The Map                                                         7:20
07. Bodies                                                          7:31
08. Melody Junkie                                                  10:54

(371.69MB) 00:50:03

Alright, you sodden louts, ready thine ears because this here album will
need to enter forthwith. We usually save that sort of statement for the
second paragraph, using the first to build tension with a nice gentle
lead-up, but if you want one of those, tough shit. This is your lead-up.
Gapen your hearing holes and get ready to absorb one of the flat-out
coolest albums of the year, coming from the Stockholm underground to
deliver a baseball bat, wrapped in barbed wire and dipped in ayahuasca,
straight to the trachea. VAK has arrived.

VAK reminds me of a dozen bands and doesn't sound quite like any of them.
The foundation is in sludge, but not the thundering, bottom-heavy kind. A
closer comparison would be the ramble of The Melvins, with all the grunge
bits replaced by screeching, feedback-laden meltdowns that tear at the
flesh like meat hooks. The drums emphasize this slicing-over-bludgeoning
focus; the snare hits the hardest, sometimes even recalling military drum
rolls ( Speed of Images ). A hefty dose of noise-core atonality rubs salt
and vinegar in the wounds, while waves of thick synthesizers carefully
pick the right moment to flood the room with neon light before retreating
to the background. The vocals are not pretty, not even especially skilled,
but between the wheezing, venomous screams and the acerbic spit-spraying
over-pronunciation, there is a biting vigor, raging at the dregs of
society with a dark madness that borders on the theatrical, and it s
exactly what the music requires.

Instrumental opener  Passport  is the most synthy of all, suckling
greedily from the teat of darkwave and lulling you into a false sense of
cyberpunk security, but that blanket is torn to shreds as soon as
Panorama  begins its nasty and distorted broadcast. VAK quickly proves
itself a capable unit in both song- and albumcraft, and though some tracks
are comparable, none feel remotely like the band is repeating a step.
"Sewer Café" flits between a burly punk rhythm that feels like navigating
an overcrowded downtown with a panic attack, and a crushing riff that
leaves downtown a smoking crater. 'Q&A' finds vocalist Jesper Skarin at
his most rabid, hissing intonations through clenched teeth, stressing
every consonant leaking with pure rage.

From there on out, The Islands enters more psychedelic territory,
employing more cyclical patterns that nonetheless manage to stay
interesting through the subtle evolution of the many textures and a solid
sense of rising and plunging. Still, the back-to-back  Speed of Images
and  The Map  don t manage to hit quite as hard as the preceding material.
Thankfully, there is  Bodies  to raise the bar with an excellent jagged
and barbed hook, absolutely crushing and demented riffs, and the mad
refrain of 'MASSES FOR REVIEW' likening packed public transportation to
slaughterhouse trucks. It s a dark and mighty highlight before  Melody
Junkie  bookends the album beautifully, asking 'What would be the melody
we fight for and makes us disagree?' before answering the question by
bringing back the synths from 'Passport,' mangled and distorted. I do love
a good callback.

The Islands is not pretty, polished perfection. The lengthier tracks could
benefit from a shave, though the album does not feel too long overall.
Some details leave me scratching my head, and the bewildering lyrics
manage to be both on-the-nose in their expression and opaque in their
meaning. But it's all part of the weird and wonderful nightmare the album
pulls you into. It's rare enough to find a band with a voice wholly its
own these days, but VAK pulls it off with daring authenticity, killer
songwriting and absolutely rancid atmosphere. The Islands is an absolute
treat and one that I will definitely make room for in my year-end list.

ixxu!imp