Band: Vices
Album: Now That I Have Seen I Am Responsible
Record Label: Resist Records/CVA
Release: 17th March
Review by Alexander Flower
Commendable is they who set forth to address some of our deepest issues today. Vices recognise mental health experiences manifest in oneself, the tiring diplomacy of friends and social pretences, the search for purpose, the monotony embracing you without consent, the threats to human rights, and religious divisions as tension climbs on a national and international scope. Clichés to some, yet we’re all subject to one or the other. If done right – without masquerading for empathy or to sell a product – the material serves to be addressed with equal concern and concentration.
Vices are soon to release a follow-up to 2014’s We’ll Make It Through This with their most rounded, well-produced record yet. At the heart of their music, Vices are a melodic hardcore band. While musicians naturally are not embodiments of the music they make or identify with – in that they are subject to influences – Vices seemed to have looked elsewhere for a heavier sound to gloss over their body of work. Mostly harking back to their previous records, traces of metal find their way in songs like Treachery…, Apathy // Aggression, and single Broken, the heaviest of the lot, which premiered on Short.Fast.Loud last week (it stacks up with progressive and more extreme metal acts today.)
Not just matured and refined in production, Now That I Have Seen I Am Responsible reflects the band’s evolution. These explorations were intended to align with the themes of the record, which rewarded them with more unrestrained, raw, and tight compositions. Never one to hesitate, John McAleer is unwavering towards an intelligent observation of his experiences and the world around him – politically and socially. Despite McAleer’s antagonistic soliloquy, a harrowing display of emotion, there is much for the listener to relate too, and even more for the listener to wake up too.
Having toured EU, US, NZ, JAP, and AU, this well-received underground quintet has spent a year crafting their LP Now That I Have Seen I Am Responsible, which singer McAleer credits producer Jay Maas (Defeater, Bane, Verse, Counterparts) for balancing imperfections and pushing for something better when needed.
OFFICIAL BANDCAMP! CHECK IT!
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRj3ZYisXdA]
