Description

“From calloused hearts broken again…”

Conjured by guitarist John Cobbett (Hammers Of Misfortune, ex-LUDICRA) and drummer Aesop Dekker (AGALLOCH, WORM OUROBOROS, ex-LUDICRA) to create music together again post-Ludicra fallout, it wouldn’t take long to round out this new band’s lineup with YOB’s Mike Scheidt joining on vocals and bassist Sigrid Sheie (Hammers Of Misfortune, Amber Asylum) completing the contingent.

It was natural of course that speculation would surface as to what the musical direction of VHOL will entail because of its membership’s musical repertoire already at their disposal. And it became the finality that VHOL’s sound is unlike anything one would end up expecting; a sound that didn’t end up being the sum of its parts. But greater. Far from it actually considering it’s not remotely doom metal, not black metal and not even close to being Ludicra part II (even though some traces have leaked and crossed over to VHOL due to Cobbett’s signature guitar playing, where even traces of early Hammers Of Misfortune rear their head on slight occasion).

What VHOL have created is a whirlwind of upbeat raw, un-polished vicious cross-pollination where old-school hardcore, dbeat fury and punk collide with classic old-school metal (‘70s era Judas Priest meets “Show No Mercy” era Slayer/”Kill Em All” era Metallic). All topped with Schedit’s most versatile and jaw-dropping vocal performance to date which will easily solidify him as one of the greatest vocalists in metal today.

Recorded at Earhammer Studios in Oakland by Greg Wilkinson and mixed in Seattle by Randall Dunn, and presented in a lavish 6-panel digipack designed in conspiracy with Cobbett, Aesop, and Viral Optic, tracklisting for “Vhol” goes as follows:

1. The Wall
2. Insane With Faith
3. Plastic Shaman
4. Grace
5. Illuminate
6. Arising
7. Songs Set To Await Forever