news & updates: Vhöl

Vhöl

Deeper Than Sky

Profound Lore

release: 23 October 2015

Members of Agalloch, Hammers of Misfortune and Yob got together and formed, of all things, a rather psychedelic speedy heavy metal band. Really, your guess is as good as mine. Space rock + psychedelia + heavy metal + punk/thrash/black = Vhöl, or something like that. It is not noise experiment music, it’s not super strange, it does sound like metal music, but it is its own little quirky world of West Coast modern hippy metal rock thrash space rock. Actually, my description makes it appear weirder than it really is. Most of all, the band is an avenue for these musicians to play metal music that is more traditional and fun than perhaps they can in their other bands. There are headbanging, guitar-hero finger tapping soloing and riffing moments. There's a speedy, thrashing energy, too.

At any rate, the official information about the band explains:

Vhöl was forged from the ashes of Pentagram cover band, Parallelogram, which featured Mr. Hate of Noothgrush on vocals, Cobbett on guitar, Sheie on bass, and Dekker on drums. They disbanded when the real Pentagram arose from the grave. Finding themselves unable to keep the tempos under control anyway, they took to thrash and started penning originals. Eventually, Scheidt took over vocals. When their self-titled debut album was released in 2013, the effort was a surprise to many who didn’t expect what VHÖL would initially sound like from their pedigree alone. Crowned, “…a generative force with an unpredictable will of their own,” by Pitchfork and hailed by Metal Assault for delivering, “seven neck-breaking slabs of crusty, swinging, dark heavy metal,” the offering bore the sounds of a true musical exploration where each of its members would experience something innovative during the composing process while simultaneously rediscovering their oldschool metal roots.

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