Don’t you love Fridays? Sure, we all do because of the weekend, but Fridays is also a big day for music lovers as that is the usual release day for most music. And let me tell you, September 29th was a totally stacked release day for me, with new releases from Wolves In The Throne Room, Gunship, David Eugene Edwards, Steven Wilson and many other interesting albums I haven’t even picked up yet. None of these, however, manage to impress and find themselves on my repeat as much as BEAR‘s new album Vanta did.
This was my first contact with them, and I decided to check them out for the simple fact they are a Pelagic Records band. That is a label that never fails to feature some of the most interesting bands out there, so I trust their curation completely. And BEAR just fortified that trust, because damn, I loved this.
Soon after I hit play, I was met with the absolutely monumental “Atone” and THAT is how you start an album, folks. A mountain of hard riffing riffs, drums and growls that keeps on delivering, I was just happy I decided to give this a spin. Somewhere between the Converge side of metalcore and the adventurous, chaotic prog metal of bands like Between The Buried And Me, BEAR is just truly good metal, and Vanta is nonstop fun.
This is easily one of those no-skip, all bangers kind of album. “Atone” kicks the door wide open, but “Cisplatin” follows through in great fashion, packing punchy riffs that make my inner prog lover go to town. It is very common for prog bands to be a bit more laid back than other acts, focusing on technique and song structure and whatnot. BEAR, however, has all of the prog goodness you could ever want, but with the energy and aggressiveness of a hardcore band. And as someone getting a lot into hardcore influenced stuff lately, I just know this band is gonna be a mainstay on my listens. “Defeatist” has that Meshuggah juice to it, and sure, everyone tries to sound like them at some point, but few manage to emulate those truly face melting moments. This song has those, and also a sax solo. If that does not pique your interest, I’m not sure what will.
“Repose Beyond Fate” is a fast banger with an awesome melodic chorus, and some moments that sound like a faster Tool. “Vanta” tones down the hardcore elements in favor of a more traditional prog metal approach. Maybe a hot take, but I do not think this song deserved to baptize the album, as it does not showcase BEAR‘s current identity as well as other songs. “Earthgrinder”, though, that’s a perfect comeback to everything I loved about this. A creepy intro that quickly gives way to a complete monster of a riff, this has to be one of my favorite songs of the year. A total headbanger that will inspire some good moshpits, I’m sure. It makes for a totally awesome duo with “ArmMe”, a song that captures their proggy aggressiveness in a very tasty nutshell.
“Cells” is a totally unexpected but welcome electronic interlude before “Piece” goes totally nuts. It’s crazy how their approach to prog and hardcore elements extend to production, too: it both sounds like rawer prog metal, as well as more flashy hardcore. Followed by “Serpents”, a song that would feel right at home in the more modern BTBAM albums, these songs illustrate both ends of their sonic spectrum pretty well. “Andram” does not necessarily add anything new to this album, but damn if those riffs aren’t tasty.
BEAR is another gem that Pelagic Records has under their belt. Vanta is an album made for those that feel like their prog metal could just use more punch, juice and energy to it, and delivers that in spades. This is prog metal that goes hard, and something I didn’t even know I was really craving, and while this is not necessarily the best stuff I’ve heard recently, it is so damn fun that I can’t stop listening to it. Maybe you are craving something like this too, and I’d advise you to check it out whenever you can.
