You would expect a record called “Vehemence” to be an emotional powerhouse that pushes you physically and mentally to your limit, spilling every bit of the harnessed energy into your already overflowing senses. When that comes as part of a thunderous black metal record that presses on your nerve endings, the effect is that much more powerful.
Mostly Swedish entity Det Eviga Leendet is responsible for this album, and it is a barnstormer from the start, spilling ferocity, colorful devastation, and thick shadows. The band—vocalist Jacob Buczarski, the non-Swede, and M, J, S, M, E, who round out the cacophony—explodes over this collection, their third overall and one that puts you through the emotional ringer. Over six immersive, devastating tracks, you experience a tidal wave of tumult that feels like it’s cutting through you to identify what is happening to us and other humans and how to channel that into something that helps us survive.
“Green” enters amid a synth cloud and ignites, shrieks belting their way through dramatic black metal storming, thunderous guitars cascading to the earth. The playing blows past the stars, spacious sections swallowing their energy, the playing stabbing viciously, eventually melting into the void. “Stray” brings melodic riffs as shrieks scrape, the guitars swinging wildly, powering everything before smothering. A new charge ravages as screams smear, and devastation explodes, sending shrapnel flying, the mood darkening, and strangeness digesting bodies. “Deliverance” gushes as the howls spark, anguished melodies twisting muscle, a driving force opening elegant darkness. The playing finds a new level of intensity, clean calls bellow, and a vicious surge opens more bellies. Guitars flood, the tempo is relentless, and steam rises.
“Avail” stirs as ominous shapes form, savagery tearing around corners, howls opening wounds and pouring salt inside. Black metal destruction takes a vicious new form, the shrieks jolt, and terrifying blasts spill into a host of strange colors, vile howls carving pathways through psyches. “Relent” throws fists, the screams fire, and the playing bludgeons, guitars washing over bloody terrain. The fiery pace slashes, ferocity barreling over a quick pocket of calm, leads flooding the senses, the back end bleeding out. Closer “Virtue” runs 9:32 and throws you headlong into a cyclone, and the howls punish as ravaging tempo shakes the ground. Leads cloud before the playing gains speed, an electric sheen hovering overhead, strings layering and flooding. Screams hammer as everything crashes under rubble, melodies flood, and strings carry into space.
“Vehemence” is a cataclysmic record, one that finds Det Eviga Leendet acknowledging the utter madness in front of us and trying to figure out how to filter what we experience. The music here equals the chaos, and the monstrous shrieks aren’t designed to turn stomachs but shake psyches back into awareness. It’s a firebreather of an album, one that is impossible to experience and come out unphased.
For more on the band, go here: https://detevigaleendet.bandcamp.com/
To buy the album (U.S.), go here: https://debemurmorti.indiemerch.com/
Or here (Europe): https://www.debemur-morti.com/en/24-pre-orders
For more on the label, go here: debemur-morti.com
