Vehementer Nos – S/T
France’s Vehementer Nos is a 2 person project that have poured a lot of thought and preproduction tinkering into their songs before making them known to the black metal wolves hunting for fresh blood in this often creatively depleted genre. This project features a nice and effortless mixing of the old school and modern black metal eras. Thankfully keeping their music sufficiently underground in execution and color, V.N. just centers all their efforts on writing solid songs that unfold as they progress, actually building into something more developed than just a handful of riffs and some knucklehead screaming his brains out. With the use of piano, cello, flute, and violin sensibly interspersed throughout their compositions, this eclectic mix interacts with the mighty wall of atypical harmonies and other such well sculpted riff ideas. V.N.’s skilled ear for creating songs with depth is further explored by the bands excellent pacing of tempo, from slower progressions that build with patience, into more urgent mids, before exploding in a climax of blasting precision. The vocals follow suit, alternating between your typical BM mid-range retching, to some pitch sung segments and other spoken/shouted moments that adds a theatrical flavor to the body of this album. Whether this broader scope and pension for the dramatic was indeed intentional or not, this self titled CD comes off as sounding very innocently genuine. Looking at all the elements that comprise this material, Vehementer Nos could have easily dipped into more of a commercial medium of black influenced metal, but I appreciate them even more for sticking to their obvious passion for the dark side of life/art and arriving at a sound that is challenging, yet very easy to embrace due to the pure songwriting skills found very much alive at the core of this duo. – Marty
OSMOSE PRODUCTIONS
Worm Gear 