Beats and yelling: Vltimas and the era of light entertainment metal

Epic
Out 15^th March on Season of Mist

If we measured albums purely in terms of communicating artistic intent, ‘Epic’ would be considered a triumph. It simultaneously showcases the abilities – such as they are in their present state – of its renowned clientele whilst satisfying the expectations of metal’s increasingly casualised fandom, who understand artistry as a checklist of tropes. Because Vltimas have met these needs, and only these needs, it will be regarded as a success. Anyone looking for hints of a world beyond this playpen of sanitised superficiality will be sorely disappointed (and were grossly mistaken in looking for it in an act such as Vltimas).  

Context matters when discussing Vltimas because supergroups are nothing but context. As well as cashing in on the remaining goodwill of their fanbases, they stand or fall based on whether they position themselves in confrontation or continuity with their legacy. This posturing is an important way of drumming up publicity in any new project, and will determine fan responses before anyone has hit a note. It may therefore be beneficial to dispense with my usual instinct to confront the music head on, and instead base any critique of ‘Epic’ explicitly on who Vltimas are.

History is baked into an album like this. We are too familiar and invested in the works of David Vincent, Blasphemer, and Flo Mounier as artists and people to even bother pretending that we should treat this as “new” music in a total sense (arising from fresh perspectives, places etc.).

It is from a purely contextual place therefore, that I state that ‘Epic’ is almost a perfect album. It offers no surprises, no creative stretches, performances adequate only to the needs of the music, it does nothing but totally and completely fulfil the expectations we previously had of these musicians. I therefore won’t even bother pretending that I can assess this “in a universe emptied of context” and list its shortcomings or successes as a work of modern extreme metal.

The production is almost too perfect. Polished, crystalline, deep, with more than mere lip service paid to that earthy organism now part of the furniture of mixes following the clinically triggered naughties. This shores ‘Epic’ up from any accusations of sterility or soullessness, making them seem totally disingenuous. It is also dynamic, able to switch from spacious soundscaping deployed to elevate moments of dramatic import to a tight, precise articulation of the music’s jagged, technical edges.

Blasphemer works between the patented blackened thrash of Aura Noir, working in that stilted, ponderous dissonance that defined his tenure with Mayhem. But he integrates these contours into a stadium rock predictability – think Blasphemer rewriting ‘Domination’ era Morbid Angel riffs – to suit David Vincent’s increasingly operatic vocal style. On that, Vincent is undeniably one of the most talented vocalists of the original death metal generation. For all the indignities of his career since his initial departure from Morbid Angel, Vltimas is clearly an outlet to exercise his vocal breadth (both clean and distorted) in a space metalheads will still be comfortable in, allowing them to regain respect for his abilities. Mounier’s performance provides the required framing, but exercises a degree of creative restraint, allowing the slower, anthemic extreme metal room to breathe whilst still delivering memorable patterns.

The variant of populist extreme metal on display here is common currency for many legacy acts, and invariably leaves me utterly cold. But the naked efficiency and effortless fluidity exercised by Vltimas is relentlessly disarming. This style is tough to pin down, recognisable by a certain polished, high budget presentation, and a temporal and genre agnosticism. Some call it the funderground, I call it casualised. The fun, metal-by-focus-group aura of ‘Epic’ has an audience precisely because of the expectation feedback loop between fan and artist.

Vltimas are hardly unique in this regard, but they expose the superficiality of this endeavour with remarkable efficiency. Familiar dog whistles are voiced, a plethora of riff styles, techniques, intervals, even down to the pacing and use of tempo, all are placed exactly where they should be.

All are traits developed by Vltimas’s generation in their halcyon youth, once daring and avant-garde, now domesticated, familiar, part of the furniture for casualised metal. Vltimas are well versed in this dialect, expertly manipulating them into the perfect entertainment product.

I sense no cynicism however. This is not trying to present itself as anything other than what it is. Every element, from the production, the performance, the writing, pacing, and arrangements, all are placed exactly where they should be to please casualised fans of stateless extreme metal. The result is an entertaining, harmless, and totally unenlightening experience.

But the casualised metal articulated by Vltimas is harmful by virtue of its proximity to what remains of a genuine underground. It uses up oxygen reserved for spaces where genuine risk taking is still a possibility. Where a listening experience still has the potential to be “harmful” in some way. Frontiers of discovery are being slowly abandoned for the sake of familiar pastimes. A process accelerated by the self-affirming, algorithmic favouritism lavished upon casualised fandom that demands nothing more than the same thing they enjoyed yesterday, and the critical negligence of what remains of a music “press”. As a result, this pop metal will likely be mistaken for something of genuine value, even if Vltimas themselves seem very comfortable with their role as light entertainers.