I wrote this at the same time as Ingested for 2 reasons, the first being that its slamming death metal also but also for balance because whilst it is of that ilk it is a decidedly different beast. VTS is for all the people who don’t like Ingested or for that fact, all the deathcore and newer slamming death metal bands that hold deathcore as close to their sickened hearts as their Suffocation and Dying Fetus albums.

VTS is in fact, a lot more elitist, a lot more difficult to grasp and less obvious then their British contemporaries. Don’t let the fact that they are Unique Leader trick you into thinking that this is a half hour blast-a-thon (although, nothing wrong with those), VTS perfectly fit the Unique Leader roster despite simultaneously being a distinctive and independent beast.

As a three piece, they make a racket, and a gloriously fluid and shifting one at that. There is little to zero melody on Apostles but when the music is so intriguing and progressive it makes its absence valid, and to be frank, it would be superfluous in this brew because it would detract from the impact of the weight of their sound.

Take the angular, bending intro riff to “Self Perception Veil,” its dissonance and atmosphere compliment this lack of melody and yet it fits perfectly into the jigsaw, serving as a potent foil to the galloping slam that hits a minute in (complete with sub-bass drop for extra punch). At two minutes in they drop a serious load, a titanium cast slam that is too brief but has the impact of a rhino smashing through a an antique china shop.

The true strength of VTS lays in the fluidity of their compositions, they piece together so many passages and transitions with such ease but whilst they are frantically shifting and changing gear they make it coherent, they make it memorable (ala Cryptopsy at their destructive peak). “Extirpated from Absurdity,” is built on a spongy, elastic opening riff that is as groovy as it is head caving and its so well composed that you would think that they would milk it and make it a or even the lynchpin of the track, but no, that would be too easy, too predictable.

One would thinks that the word Devourment would be synonymous with slam and in fact with any band that plays the style but VTS, whilst influenced by the Texan misogynists don’t openly and reliantly pilfer their back catalogue. The most Devourment moments are saved for the closing “Inconsistent Delta,” but even then these are chewed up, digested and then regurgitating in shapes incomprehensible and far more advanced then the Texan’s more straight forward approach.

Still, that doesn’t detract from the Italian’s penchant and open love for brutality, a passion that is supremely expressed at the highest level throughout Apostles.
www.vomitthesoul.com

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