ALBUM REVIEW: Vulture – Sentinels

German Speed Metal titans VULTURE return with their fourth album of high speed metal! Out via Metal Blade Records on April 12th.

Eerie howls and maniacal fills deliver their signature Vulture sound with razor-like guitars firing on all cylinders alongside the rhythmic battery. Everything feels carefully selected across the sonic spectrum to deliver bestial devastation and high speed metal with no mercy. The melodious and upbeat instrumentals are met by the bands unique shrill vocals which harken back to Bay Area legends while their powerful sense of traditionalism is equally present, perhaps more so than ever. Shredding leads are just as intensely metallic, filling the air with venomous rage as the reverberate guitars shriek into the night. Splitting steel with their atomic Speed Metal might, the opening moments of this record are Vulture at their strongest, taking their sound which has gotten stronger with each attack, to overdrive. Presented with an unwaveringly tight delivery and equally massive production, the band clearly have been extremely careful ensuring their fourth record is forged from only the finest components and in the fiercest of flames. All knobs on eleven, raging merciless and untamed, these German titans are back with a vengeance that knows no bounds.

From the chunky rumbling bass lines to the lacerating guitars and mesmerising solos, the backbone is some of the best drumming in Heavy Metal at present and the vocals are no weak link. Every member of Vulture brings are worthy weapon to the arsenal of slaughtering sounds, with the producer and artist upholding the strength of the vision. This album is the real deal, in every piece of the puzzle and even more so as a whole. With the singles in the first half (or side) of the record, they feel like firm and familiar favourites already having played them both a ton. After these, we delve into all new territory and it does not disappoint. Continuing with “Draw Your Blades” they strip the flesh from the face of your skull with pure metallic malice and show that the singles were strong, but there’s so many more dimensions of killer music to be found, so stick around as we see this battle out to its bloody climax.

Vulture have always been a band whose songs are all striking individually and yet when you listen to a record as a whole it feels infinitely better. To me that is the hallmark of a real band who makes real albums, not just singles flesh out with throwaway to further oversaturate the world music supply. Vulture don’t waste a second here. The crushing tones and the bands best songwriting to date renders this a real masterpiece of old school Heavy Metal in my opinion. Impassioned playing fees like they strike every string and skin with the force of a neutron hammer, never relenting and never softening their blows. Bold dynamics and the unorthodox “Der Tod Trägt Schwarzes Leder”, which reminds me of the guys’ excellent Luzifer project, builds a marvellous tension and adds to the explosive volatility that this record holds in both atmosphere and execution. Unwieldy until the end, this record spins out of control until the thing flies from the turntable. If you can find it lodged in the wall (or some posers skull), grab it back and play it again!

Primed to decimate and obliterate with pure metallic steel and hellfire, Vulture are back better than ever in my opinion. As much as I adore every offering from this band, I feel their Speed Metal where it sits between the more traditional Heavy Metal of old and guns blazing thrash madness has found a perfect harmony on the last two records. The debut and second are phenomenal, but now it feels Vulture have truly come into their own and found their identity on the third and now the fourth just hammers the nail down harder than ever. “Sentinels” is what happens when new bands burn brightly with the old school flame, keeping real Heavy Metal alive while having their own personality and vision. A totally ripping experience that you’d be a fool to miss.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 9 out of 10.

https://vulturekills.bandcamp.com/album/sentinels