Vile Creature - Glory! Glory Apathy Took Helm!


As 2020 barrels forth as the year that the entire world shat the bed, you’d expect that the music released throughout might be somewhat reflective of said shattery. If you, dear reader, having been stuck at home for the last two months are beginning to feel somewhat remorseful at just about everything, then Vile Creature have the album for you. Glory! Glory! Apathy Took Helm! is 36 minutes of cathartic lamentation that the world sorely needs, and is proof amongst many that misery can be the spark for something beautiful. 

Opeining track ‘Harbinger of Nothing’ wastes no time at all, foreshadowing what will become the highlight of the record as a whole; antagonistic, creatively harmonic sludge riffs contrasted with a densely layered doomgaze section. ‘When the Path is Unclear’ opens with an agonising riff that gives way to unrelenting sludge heaviness of the highest calibre only when it is good and ready. I’m not sure I understand of the spoken “you’ve reached the conclusion A side…” at the end of the track, however. Is it a smart nod to the fact that a large portion of their audience will be listening to this record via streaming? Or is it a reminder for vinyl-listening doomers that the music has stopped? Presumably they’d know anyway, by the fact that their music has stopped. Regardless of intent, it frays the seams of an otherwise exceptional track.

The production of Glory!… presents the two piece with an organic enormity, and has enough grit to compliment the physicality inherent within the music; the galloping guitar on ‘You Who Has Never Slept’ feels like it could burst through your speakers when you aren’t looking. The drums sound awesome throughout the whole record. Shoutout to Adam Tucker and Sean Pearson for some stellar studio work.

‘Glory! Glory!’ tones down the sludge for a vocal feature, that your parents might describe as a welcome break from all that shouting and noise. What’s fantastic about this track is that, in context with the songs surrounding it, is that is manages to best express the overall tone of the album, had there been any doubt left. The lush choral vocal textures, ringing guitar chords (with bravely included extraneous pops), piano, organ etc. combine to create an atmosphere that is melancholic to the extreme, but with an optimistic, forward-facing attitude. It is the perfect build up to album finisher ‘Apathy Took Helm’, which deftly includes the layered vocals from the previous track throughout, ending with a truly glorious conjoining of the two contrasting styles. Retrieve jaw from floor, now.

Glory!… is an album that starts strong and simply refuses to let the VU drop below anything but stellar, leading listeners up a staircase of blissful noise to a shrine of grandiose sludge at it’s best. The 36 minute run time is short, but value for money is easily exceeded by the quality of the music contained within. 

P.S. It’s hard to mention Vile Creature without mentioning gender politics. I have only omitted it from this article because I am, admittedly, severely under equipped to discuss such issues. I suggest you read into the band, what they stand for, and do what you can to support your LGBTQ+ friends and their wider community.


JC


Vile Creature links:

Band Camp: https://vilecreature.bandcamp.com/album/glory-glory-apathy-took-helm

Website: http://www.vilecreature.net/

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7Ab8HLYrBEa9uzNewNInR6

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vilecreature/

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