{"id":7975,"date":"2021-04-29T16:48:59","date_gmt":"2021-04-29T14:48:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kessel-tamerus.nl\/Esthers_Blog\/?p=7975"},"modified":"2024-06-16T15:53:59","modified_gmt":"2024-06-16T13:53:59","slug":"vexillum-when-good-men-go-to-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kessel-tamerus.nl\/Esthers_Blog\/rock\/vexillum-when-good-men-go-to-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Vexillum \u2013 When Good Men Go to War"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Als je deze recensie liever in het Nederlands leest, kun je hier klikken<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Italian folk metal band Vexillum released the metal opera ‘Unum’ six years ago. On April 23 the successor ‘When Good Men Go to War’ will be released. With their melodic Celtic songs, the band takes you on a dark sea journey.
‘Enlight The Bivouac’ starts with sampled sounds, Celtic music and cries of warriors. Then the rousing metal joins in, the melody preserved. The tempo of the (stacked) vocals is high and has an uplifting character, this fits the folk music. The minimalist pieces are nicely woven into the whole. Occasionally during the song, you can hear a bit of sampling, so too at the end. This is well spread over the headphones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Due to the high tempo of the vocals, you also have to listen carefully in ‘Sons Of A Wolf’ to understand everything. The balance between melody and rhythm is good. Especially the drum tempo is sometimes very high, this is at the expense of dynamics. The structure of this song is about the same as that of the opening track. ‘When A Good Man Goes To War’ has an uptempo start. Despite the fact that the album is about war, the lyrics of the title track are not too violent either. The atmosphere of vocals and music are almost exuberant. The vocals don’t have the body you might expect with the theme and metal, but it does fit in with the folk. This catchy track, with its acoustic elements is a well-chosen title track. In most of the songs you only hear sampled sounds at the end, not always giving them a real added value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The songs have more or less the same structure. Every song has both well played uplifting parts, and nice (acoustic) folklore pieces. The way both parts sound, and alternate could have been a bit more diverse. That would have increased the impact of the smaller played and sung parts. After a catchy intro, “With My Hands” gets a nice, lightly played and sung piece. It is just too short to really impress, moreover the turn back to uptempo is quite predictable. The hawk has had a symbolic meaning in various cultures for centuries, this also comes out in ‘The Tale of the Three Hawks’. The alternation between the harmony vocals and lead vocals is great. This makes this feel-good song very attractive to roar along with, which will be even better when played live. The melancholic ‘Quel Che Volevo’ is sung in Italian. Again, the harmony between voice and music is very good. This last song ends quite suddenly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All in all, this is a nice blend of folk and metal, with the upbeat folk prevailing. The dark atmosphere of the war may not come across as well, the brotherhood all the more. The vocals sound friendly rather than harsh or belligerent. This matches the mood of the music. Vocals and music are constantly in balance; when the music mellows, the vocals follow. The stacked vocals are very good and the lyrics are not too complicated. This makes it delightful to sing along loudly. Played live, Vexillum certainly creates a blast.
The instruments are well balanced and the guitar solos are finger-licking good. Some pieces may be a bit predictable, but the exhilarating songs on ‘When Good Men Go to War’ quickly stuck in your head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(77\/100) (Scarlet Records<\/a>) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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