Vyre – The Initial Frontier Pt. 1
Containing 3 ex-members of the German black metal entity Eis, Vyre is an equally impressive anomaly of superior song composition mixed with a tasteful modern black metal persona. With Cypher D. Rex handing both the vocals and songwriting for Vyre as well, there is a definite quality reminiscent of the aforementioned band, but Vyre adopts more of a cosmic space theme to interact with the polished, though never fragile, chintzy, or too commercial black metal definition of their sound. Cypher’s vocals are sharp and coherent, at times putting me in mind of Satyr’s throaty snarl. His lyrical placement is imaginative as he highlights the verse riffs without succumbing to the obvious or natural flow within them.
Musically Vyre shines with what sounds like tight standard E tuning, but the dissonant note/chord interplay effortlessly unlocks alternate dimensions of atmosphere that could have generated from the vastness of space to infect the listener with wonder of what lies beyond this troubled sphere. Superior dynamics both within the music and the drum work prevail as Vyre confidently mix mind expanding slow to mid tempo parts where emotive guitar work becomes hypnotic, to effortless teeth grating blast beats that roil in a black metal characteristic that puts me in mind of the mid 90’s Norwegian sound. The subtle and tasteful synth textures spun throughout this album also help in inspiring this idea.
Vyre have emerged without the preliminary introduction of a demo, but really with such strong quality of The Initial Frontier Pt. 1 standing so proudly in the littered cosmic sea of black tinged bands, one quickly realizes that the strength of their own talent and past work in Eis and Geist act as an impressive epitaph/resume for this new band to take the reins and continue to impress. This is a very solid and entertaining debut and one can only imagine where the forward inertia of space will take them. -Marty
Supreme Chaos Records
Worm Gear 