Vehemency Tasmanian black metal rings immediately a certain bell, that bell being nobody else than the infamous Striborg, but that part of the world seems to offer something else as well, and of that Thrall takes care of on their second full-length titled Vermin to the Earth, a seven track feast on evil intentions. The deal is pretty simple: Thrall fluctuates between rocking black metal - where power chords meet the drums that partially almost groove - and a bit more modern, dissonant black metal.

The further one explores the sinister tunnels of Vermin to the Earth, the more it becomes evident that the main focus is on the latter: meaning a lot of menacing discord manifested through mid-tempo plucking. The strings ring with ultimate darkness while the drums steadily blast a tad quieter. The vocalist is a poison spewing snake with his high-end rasps that convince. All seems good from the very first seconds into the eponymous first track and its impressive rhythmic pattern. Speaking of which, the band rules when it comes to overall musicianship. Individual songs don't really raise their heads and the band would probably need somewhat more surprising compositions to impress (as this style of black metal is so damn quotidian at the moment), but Vermin to the Earth is, nonetheless, an enjoyable experience that just happens to lack proper standout moments. ”Plague of Man” tends to be my favourite of the bunch with its foreboding, apocalyptic and desperate tremolo leads, but other than that I can't name proper highlights. The production deserves a mention: it is not lo-fi yet not crystal clear. It's just about enough dirty and fits the songs very well.

All in all, I find Vermin to the Earth a good package that is just in a need of more unique elements to make a truly great impression. Fans of underground black metal in general can't go hundred percent wrong with the newest Thrall, but how much the album actually grabs the listener, making him/her want to listen to it again and again? I can't imagine very many but, then again, I could be terribly wrong. In the abundance of all promo material that just keeps coming in daily, it is not easy to differentiate from the mass, so from this perspective my opinion might be biased.

[ http://www.vehementconjuration.com/ ]

Time Signature Plague of man...

Genre: black metal

If you are into dark misanthropic black metal with lots of expressiveness and atmosphere, then Thrall's "Vermin to the Earth" should be right up your alley.

The genre defining black elements are there: there are blast beats, there is tremolo picking, there are tense harmonies, there are harsh vocals, and there is the bleak and cold production.

In addition to those black metal elements, there are a lot of midtempo and heavy doomy passages, and some passages are almost sort of rock-ish, such as many of the prominent sections of "Oblivion" - and both the rock-ish dimension and the heavy passages work excellently as a contrast to the more traditional black metal elements.

Also, Thrall make us of, not avant-garde, but at least progressive-like elements in the form of off time signatures every now and then, and the interesting part is that the odd time signatures are masked with quite raw and primitive guitar figures, which, again, works neatly in creating interesting tensions in the music.

"Vermin to the Earth" is a dark, expressive black metal release with a lot of interesting elements, and it should appeal to fans of black metal and perhaps even some non-fans.