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Released on November 3, 2015 via Hypertension Records
VVOVNDS produce compelling, reverb-soaked grind punk straight from the bowels of Kortrijk, and they’ve done so for a few years now. They’re great. They do dynamics really well, and not just quiet/loud/quiet/loud – there’s an actual emotional range to their music, from sorrow to fury and back again. Their songs are the short sharp blasts you’d hope for and they pack an awful lot into that frenzied minute or so.
It’s not quite as bludgeoning as some other examples of the genre – more like an angry dog than a whale dropped from a helicopter – but it’s no less affecting or memorable. It says a lot for the quality of the songwriting that they don’t need to overpower the listener with sheer intensity to make themselves heard (so to speak). If you like your harsh, forest-cry vocals but crave pounding riffs rather than the buzzy biscuit tin amplifier set-up of much black metal, you could do much worse than VVOVNDS.
If somebody was into punk and I was trying to trick them into being more interested in extreme metal, I’d probably point them towards Descending Flesh, as it’s a really nice bridge between the two sounds. The instrumentation is very nihilistic, all descending scales, overpowering bass and low, lingering floor toms. ‘Peine Forte’, one of two tracks that broaches the three minute mark, shows the band at their best in this regard. They can really flex their muscles when they give themselves room to build something special.
Same with ‘The Light’, the other song here in which they stretch themselves over a longer duration, is the most memorable track from the album for me. That repetitive riff, sounding like early Glassjaw mixed with a bit of mid-period Darkthrone, is magical. The way the guitar rings out really build atmosphere and the stabbing bass punctuating each beat of the kit is the sound of a tight band using each instrument to create something greater than the sum of its parts. I think they’re a better band than they need to be, given the genre, and it’s nice to see a relatively young band pushing things forward like this.
I think you can go a bit overboard with the nutsoid metaphors so I’ll keep it simple – this is really, really good. My favourites of the faster, grindier tracks would be ‘The Whip’, which is 39 seconds of fury; ‘Malefica’ barely gives you time to settle into one place before whipping the rug from under your feet, over and over again; the title track, in which the vocal effects really come into their own; and the thudding, driving power of ‘Golgotha’, which is pure pit-bait. It has a middle section build-up that ends like nothing I’ve ever heard before. Those wordless screams, man. Intense and terrifying. I fucking loved it.
I hope they release a few more albums, that’d be nice. One a week please, of this quality, would be ideal. Thanks guys!
