This five-piece from Hastings formed from the ashes of a number of local acts during 2016 and swiftly wrote, recorded and released this six-track debut EP which saw the light of day in November 2017.
There features a variety of stylistic influences here, a lot of groove metal, a sprinkling of death metal (vocals especially) and a smidgen of metalcore. The song-writing is very strong, with nods to the likes of Pantera (“Black & Blue”) and Machine Head (“Legion”) and these lads definitely know their way around their instruments. The growled vocals could do with being a little more expansive, but are generally very solid and fit the music well.
Opener “Nothing” starts in quietly atmospheric fashion with spidery clean guitar giving way to a thumping riff that combines with vocalist Dead Spoon’s growl. The midpoint sees some laid-back lead guitar, whispered vocals and bass rumbles that gradually fuse into a punchy ending, with the vocals travelling past the end of the music in satisfying style.
“Black & Blue” offers pinched harmonics aplenty, a propulsive rhythm section and a driving main riff, with a restrained solo at the midpoint and spoken word vocals, before a savage ending completes matters. “Legion” contains a martial drum beat and a belting conclusion that ends in bizarrely abrupt fashion dropping into an interlude reprising the same riff with added piano. Losing the interlude entirely would not have harmed this EP as it feels a little disjointed and affects the flow of the tracks.
“Torn Away” is the longest song here at five-and-a-half minutes and is an enjoyable romp that slows to the midpoint before picking up pace and delivering a savagely heavy and slow conclusion. “Vile” concludes the EP, with a slightly nu-metal intro, the guitar tone and shout of “Go!” taking the listener back to the late 90’s/early 00’s but then goes on to offer a frenetic wall of buzzsaw guitar, string bends and killer groove followed by some interesting lead work before bringing the track home with a pummelling ending.
A word on the production though, which lets the release down, offering a somewhat woolly listen, with the drums suffering the most. What should be jack-hammering is barely distinguishable, the double-kick especially so.
In terms of songwriting ability and overall sound, Vichama have got off to a flyer, it’s just a shame that the production (and to a certain degree the interlude) lets this release down a little. Let’s hope they fix this on their next release.
7/10 - review by Dave
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