Perfect Vision?

 

In case you haven't been keeping track of this blog lately you may, or may not have noticed that I have been getting awfully excited about the comeback of Long Island's Vision of Disorder.

Having been denied the chance to hear Vision of Disorder's comeback album a few weeks ago thanks to The Sleeping Shaman (I'm still holding this against you Lee!) the anticipation in my household (well more me, less so the misses) has increased on an almost daily basis as the count down to the release of The Cursed Remain Cursed on the 17th September.

Finally I caught a break when Metal Hammer took the awesome step to feature the entire album for streaming on their Spotlight section this week, meaning the wait of 11 years for new material from my favourite hardcore band was finally over.

Having seen the incredible reviews stack up on reviews, fansites, Dom Lawson's Iron Sandwich and the pages of Metal Hammer itself, the question I had to ask as I tentatively clicked play was, is this all just hype?

I am relived to say that the answer is a resounding no.



From the moment opening single/teaser track (whatever the fuck you call a single these days) Loveless takes off, it is clear that VOD mean business as visceral and pummelling, huge melodic hooks sucks you in.
It is like the band haven't missed a step, or if they did, they smashed their toe, swore into the sky and bounded forward with renewed purpose. Tim Williams' vocal deliver is as furious as ever as he spits venomous lyrics like,
In the throes of our misery
I swear that I'll have my revenge
At the crossroads of our sanity
We'll be loveless until the end

Set To Fail, a much hyped track in reviews, smashes in without missing a beat. It is a collision of hardcore, metal and groove as the musicians creating this glorious cacophony showcase exactly what made them so special in the first place - the deep Slayeresque riff, the stop/start dynamics, the snaking bass and Williams schizophrenic use of shrieks, shouts and that unique clean singing that set them apart from some of the run of the mill New York bands they rubbed shoulders with.

Up next Blood Red Sun is just simply gigantic. Starting with impressive drumming, it breaks out from a relentless high tempo into a massive chorus and huge sing-a-long sections that deserve to be screamed in pits all over the world. Just thinking about it puts a huge fucking smile on my face and it's been a while since I went into the pit, but I was throwing shapes in the kitchen as I played it at deafening level.

Fourth track Hard Times is not a Cro-Mags cover, instead it is another slice of prime brutality delivered with flair and block levelling groove. Inspite of the unforgiving heaviness, there is always catchy vocal chant never far away as it stops on a dime and changes tempo. Even if it scrapes your throat as it comes out.
What is incredible is how raw and savage the whole album is.
And I mean the whole album - even the moments they take their foot off the gas.
It is simply relentless and harks back to the days of Imprint and the self titled debut. I had heard that it was angry and heavy, but quite simply this is seriously intense and goes way beyond my expectations. Whatever happened in their time apart or even their time back together, it is clear that the fire that drives this band is burning as brightly as ever.

Make no mistake this is no cash grab reunion, this is the real fucking deal as Annihilator simply kicks your face off with no apology. Skullz (Rot In Pieces) eases back on the tempo and substitutes the fury for a head banging feast and more sing-a-long barrages.
The Enemy (the other preview track) see Williams sounding like Layne Stayley if he had kicked the smack and gone fucking postal, whilst the band whip up the kind of storm they did on Imprint's standout track By The River.
From here Seventh Circle and New Order Of Ages see the band developing light and shade as they shift focus to creating an atmospheric soup of heavy dirge verses off kilter melody that recalls the late nineties alternative scene distilled with a genuine anger that few 'heavy' bands can manage with conviction these days.
Right on cue Be Up On It cranks the tempo and delivers a soulful chorus that is almost tender despite the raging setting it is housed in, briefly delivering a 'lighters in the air' moment, before lapsing back into the kind of riff that inspires pits.

The final track Heart & Soul attempts to walk this same tightrope.
In truth, for me, it is the weakest track on the album. To put this in it's true context, it's not bad, it's not a dud and I won't be bailing from future listens a track early, but at times it feels a little thrown together and it's stop/start transition from heavy to melodic feels a little forced and the down tempo shift feels unnecessary.
It is, however, worth sticking with for it's defiant to the last  'We're gonna torch this city and watch it burn' refrain.

So maybe it isn't quite as perfect as the title suggests, but it's damn close enough for me.
Closer than I hoped to be honest .
I liked Bloodsimple, it kept reminding me of Williams and Kennedy's chemistry, but much like A Perfect Circle breaks up the time between Tool albums and is good to play around your girlfriend, when the big boys come home it is time to get serious and for me The Cursed Remain Cursed does exactly that.
If you had said to me back in 2003 that a decade later Vision of Disorder would release an album capable of flattening the competition, I would have probably laid a decent bet that if they were still going, they would have mellowed with age.
Ultimately no one, apart from those who loved the band have clamoured for this reunion, for this album, but it shows they are doing it for the best reason possible - to make the best fucking VOD album they could and to be honest, they have come close to making the best VOD album yet.
9/10 for me and a contender for album of the year.
Go see them in Camden for me this week.
You bastards.