I have to admit, this has been pre ordered for a while from an online retailer and to get to review in advance is the icing on the cake. Vulture are from Germany, and pay old school speed/thrash, very much in the vein of the early Ranger releases and Speedtrap, right down to the vocal power screams. I won’t bore you with the obligatory first wave influences from the 80’s, you should know what to expect by now.
The quality is great, the opener ‘Vulture’ is an intense collection of speed and aggression, whilst ‘D.T.D. (Delivered to Die)’ has a touch more depth and musicianship, especially at its start. When the guitars kick in, the staccato motion is a faster version of older US power metal until the main tempo appears like a haunting rendition of early Slayer material. Even the effects on the vocals make it totally authentic and actually individual. ‘Victim to the Blade’ is right out of the manual for recording excellent speed metal, the tightness of each instrument is perfectly captured and delivering the material to the listener in near perfect form, at last a release that’s mixed the way I like it! For the final track, there is a fast version of Priest’s ‘Rapid Fire’, done in their own style, it sounds great and is a different interpretation of the heavy metal monster tune from their ‘British Steel’ monolith.
Vulture, with the likes of Speedtrap and Dungeon (UK), bring a great sub-genre to life and break the sound barrier with their tight speed/thrash metal. This MCD is certainly a top class high speed metal affair and should be sought out immediately!
(8.5/10 Paul Maddison)
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