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Released on August 17, 2015 via Self-Released
I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Vera Grace play live before, at a venue in sunny Leicester on an all-day bill populated with deathcore and beatdown bands. They took to the stage unabashed at the sea of sweaty snapbacks and XXL vests and breathed fresh air over the proceedings by pulling out an excellent set of intelligent post-hardcore blended metalcore with cleverly layered rhythms and smart guitar melodies. It seemed a bit lost on the assembled ranks, but totally redeemed my faith in music after five hours of tough-guys, foot stomping and pointless crowd-killing – faith that would later that day be repaid even further when Redseasfire played a truly headline-worthy set to a nearly empty room. I was so impressed with Vera Grace that I pried open my wallet, painstakingly counted out some change and bought their EP.
So given the implied praise in that I actually bought a CD – I am notoriously tight, so that is high praise indeed – when Novella came up in the review list I snapped it up. According to the associated bio, this 6 track EP is a high concept, set as a play, with each track representing a scene. The play revolves around two separate stories that entwine with each other throughout, taking in loss of faith, murder and the repercussions of this action. As the EP progresses, the stories grow more intertwined. I’ll have to take their word for it; without a lyric sheet it’s pretty difficult to comment on this. It does lead to the only real problem I have with this EP – pacing. Track one, ‘Exposition’, is a fair cracker, three and a half minutes of tumultuous riffs topped with throaty cathartic vocals and pretty, memorable picked guitar lines. The chuggy mid-section is a particular highlight; the simplicity of this throws the complexity of the carefully layered verses and choruses into sharp contrast. The track comes to a satisfying climax before dropping into track two – which is an instrumental interlude called ‘Act I’. While it’s very pretty and poignant, its 1:14 run-time serves only to kill the momentum gathered in the first track, which is a real shame – it’s just too early in the record for a lull in the pace like this. I’m sure it makes perfect narrative sense, but given that the narrative isn’t entirely clear from listening alone, this is slightly lost upon the listener. Well, this one, at least.
‘12_04’ picks up the pace again, and mostly manages to recover the momentum lost in the previous track, with some riff work that feels slightly like a throwback to the early noughties hardcore scene – particularly a cracking climactic build and payoff section that sounds like something that Poison The Well would have been proud of in their heyday, and there are some excellent A Snow Capped Romance era 36 Crazyfists riffs and vocals threading through the verses and chorus. And then we get another interlude, and again, the momentum is lost – ‘Act II’ dispenses with the pretty, providing 1:16 of slow repeating drums, feedback and muted off-mic screaming. Again no doubt narratively important, again it breaks the progress noted on the previous song and reduces listener engagement.
Fortunately the last two songs succeed absolutely. ‘Scene 1 – Griever’ capitalises on a slow build magnificently, with some fantastically pretty guitar work over the middle eight into a big riff section and carefully used feedback; the band start to really demonstrate their capability on this song. Emotive and affecting, with some clever repeating motifs in the driving guitars and a clever (but not smug) false ending that means that the start of ‘Scene II – Catharsis’ feels like it starts with a release, no doubt intentional given the track title. Both songs have the feel of a beaten man; bruised and crawling, battered, but with a tarnished beauty to their stubborn refusal to stop moving forward.
The production supports the music wonderfully; a rounded drum sound and a strong, sinewy bass supporting the meaty guitars to create big sound and a really cohesive whole, with additional layers of ‘lead’ guitar prettiness perfectly mixed for maximum impact. The only weak point here is the vocals – while they have a satisfyingly throat-ruining raw sound to them that nicely conveys desperation and catharsis, but there is very little clarity in the words. Given the narrative, this really is a big drawback. Viewed as another percussive instrument, they sound great, with some clever patterns over occasionally challenging riffs, but in a record where we need to understand the words to land the narrative concept, the production here does the band and the concept no favours.
Overall, I’d characterise this release as a frustrated album. I suspect that this will have the band face-palming a bit at my inability to see their vision for a short form concept album, but reviewing is about being honest. And if I’m honest I’d have far preferred this Novella to have been developed further into a full-fledged novel, where the narrative arc could be given space to breathe, and where interludes didn’t feel jarringly out of place. That said, this is an astoundingly confident release for the band, and the four actual songs on the record deliver punches that connect viscerally with an emotional heft that almost borders on the cinematic at points, it’s just a shame the flow of the EP acts to limit that impact.
