So it’s probably no secret that we are fans of Mike Scheidt here at Hellbound. Searching for what we had to say about the speed demons of VHOL here in the past, I stumbled upon two interviews and several features on a little project of his called Yob. When careening your way through the little microplanets of this album though, you probably won’t find many similarities between the two. Sure, both projects are a bit similar to ships in space — but Yob is a very relaxed trip, whereas this here Vhol has again proven itself to be a vessel of some seriously high velocity travel.
Is it death metal, is it thrash? Whose voice is that? These are questions that remain to be explored on every listen through these seven tracks. With the longest clocking in at just under twelve minutes (title track Deeper Than Sky) it’s easy to imagine this ending up on many a runner’s playlist – this stuff is kinetic. Listening to it and staying still is damn near impossible as every one offers a new flavour of riffing goodness, starting off with “The desolate damned” and not letting up through to “The tomb.”
There is a riff of a type I won’t spoil on the fourth track. I absolutely love what happens when an unexpected instrument makes its way into the mix. Over the waves of a wonderfully velvety-toned bass line rides this riff, and saying any more would ruin the surprise.
Oh and also, the band features members of Ludicra, Hammers of Misfortune and Agalloch, so it’s going to be more than fun hearing how fans of each of those projects enjoys this one. Certainly a mishmash of Ludicra’s hectic insanity (very lucky to have seen them live once, they ripped the place to shreds) with the epic scope of the latter two, though certainly not to be confused with anything resembling either. Nope, as with their first album, this is an entirely new hybrid they’ve created.
Released: October 23, 2015 (Profound Lore Records)
Listen/Purchase : Vhol – Deeper Than Sky
Album artwork: Brandon Duncan, John Cobbett
