[METAL
SHREDDER REPORTING]
I first met
the guys from Vicious Nature during Wizzfest 2016. I remember being very
satisfied with their rather short but hard hitting performance and I ended up
buying both their EPs as well as their live EP Live In Belgium. Yup, these guys
love my country so much that they even recorded a live performance in the very
same venue where I was standing none the less! Fast-forward two years later and
guitarist Andrew offered me to review his band’s latest EP release, called
Seven. Could this be a lucky one?
[THE
SHREDDING BASICS]
Don’t let
the name confuse you, Seven is the third EP from the British heavy metal
quartet Vicious Nature. A band formed in 2012 out of the ashes of Marshall Law,
Cloven Hoof and Cerebral Fix. This EP is slightly longer than their previous
two releases, clocking in at 25 minutes, featuring five studio recordings and a
live track of the previously unreleased track System Of Disorder. Recorded in
2015 at, you guessed it, in Belgium! After a short and gentle sounding opening
instrumental, the band kicks into high gear with their typical combination of
heavy, power and thrash metal. Andy’s raw but still operatic sounding vocals
(his voice reminds me a bit the late legendary Ronnie James Dio) are sharply
contrasted by the harsh guitar riffs from Andrew and the thrash metal inspired
rhythms from Marc and Jon all crammed together into typically heavy metal song structure
with catchy choruses and beautifully technical guitar solos. One definite
improvement over Vicious Nature’s previous two EPs is the overall production
value and sound quality. This time all instruments feel equally strong and
sound clearer overall, nothing is mixed over anything else and this makes Seven
feel more professionally made. This is an EP done with love and knowhow and the
same can also be said about the album’s artwork, which I’ll discuss in a
minute.
[THE
SHREDDING THEMES AND VISION]
Like most
of Vicious Nature’s material, the songs on their new EP have both dark and
optimistic themes. One song is sung from the perspective of a serial killer
while another track encourages you to rise up to your feet and fight. As for
the artwork, man, what an improvement compared to their earlier releases! Gone
is the bland cover art from their first two EPs (which only featured the band’s
blood dripping logo on either a plain black or a plain white background) and now
you’ve got a stylish blue front with a golden dragon circling over the Roman
numeral VII with band’s logo written in a golden font on top. Although simple
by design, it does have a majestic feel to it. It looks like something you’d
see on a noble family crest, proudly representing its house, or in this case
band, in all its glory!
[THE
SHARPEST SHREDS & BLUNTEST BLADES]
The EP’s
fifth track, The Silence That Kills is my favorite. It’s an excellently paced
and balanced song wherein the guys throw all their cards on the table for a
badass and catchy tune. The song’s chorus in particular is quite mesmerizing.
The same thing applies to the preceding tune, the aggressive yet also quite upbeat
track Psychotic As for Seven’s biggest
weakness, I’d say that aside from these aforementioned tracks the songs on
Seven feel a bit dragged on in my opinion. The lads at Vicious Nature have
always had the habit of writing songs that are mostly over 4:30 minutes long
but I believe they’ll be better off with shorter, tighter material as is the
case with The Silence That Kills.
[THE
SHREDDER’S SCORECARD]
7 family
crests out of 10 (what a coincidence)! Vicious Nature show clear improvement in
their studio recording and song writing skills in their third consecutive EP.
If you’re looking for some old-school heavy and thrash metal then show this
band some love and check out this sweet EP. I’m very curious to see how Vicious
Nature will evolve in the following years. Hopefully they’ll eventually unleash
a badass full length release that manages to fully convert their awesome live on
stage power into CD format. Maybe a full live album recorded in Belgium! Should
that ever happen (very likely, I believe), I’ll give them all waffles,
chocolate and a ton of Westmalle beer! But for now, enjoy arguably the EP’s
best track here below, The Silence That Kills!