British alt metal/deathcore band Vexed returned last week with their sophomore album. After setting the underground scene on fire with their debut back in 2021, the band return with even more anger, heaviness and drive. Without further ado, let’s dive into the review!
After a brief, perfectly building intro track, the album explodes in with the lead single, ‘Anti-Fetish’. A sludgy, modern deathcore riff leads to some fantastic heavy growls from Megan Targett. Despite the heaviness, the chorus is surprisingly catchy, the vocals cleaning up slightly at times. This heavier edge than their previous sound reminds me a lot of Darko US, which is fine by me. It definitely has the same quirkiness and energy; aggression and talent and passion.
‘We don’t talk about it’ is pretty similar in feel and structure to the previous track. However, it does have a slightly more radio friendly feel to it. The spoken work stuff was cool, too, adding an almost Marylin Manson quality to it all.
‘X my <3’ is a banger, despite it’s cringy (albeit clever) title. Opening with the catchy, almost radio-friendly chorus was a great call. The guitars are a little less out there and technical, too, it being more of a sludgy, groovy wall of heavy. The fully clean vocals were a nice touch too, only making the screams even heavier. The breakdown was tasty too, the bends being amazing and reminding me a little of early Architects. It’s one of my favourite tracks on the album and easily makes the playlist.
The chuggy opener of ‘Panic Attack’ is fun, the drum tone almost giving off Slipknot vibes with that massive hit between guitar notes. The quick vocal delivery almost confirmed the sound too, while the brutal screams for the chorus backed by the rather open groove-metal instrumentation made for an interesting dynamic. It somehow fits the subject matter perfectly too, the claustrophobic, fast riffing combining with the slower(ish) drums making everything feel close and anxious. Another amazing track.
Alpha Wolf lends their talents perfectly for ‘Lay down your flowers’. The added male screams added some fun variety, especially when they are higher and more metalcore. The whole track has a metalcore style to it, from the quick guitar runs to the quieter interlude in the middle. It was a nice way to break-up the album after a few fairly similar tracks. Clearly, I need to check out more Alpha Wolf, as his vocals were great!
Unfortunately, ‘There’s no place like home’ is where I start to really feel the album. While Overtone has helped me get into the heavier end of music a lot, like this band and album, I’m a sucker for variety. My brain gets easily distracted and if a lot of tracks sound similar, it’ll want to check out something else. As much as I love this album and love each individual track, it did start to wear on me a little by the halfway mark. 45+ minutes of balls to the wall melodeath is a bit much for me, where’s the ballad, Vexed? Still, as I’ve said, I loved each track individually, and feel like this all would be INCREDIBLE live.
Ironically, I’m obsessed with the following track ‘Extremist’. The way everything was stabbing on each beat, the drums, vocals and guitars all working in sync together, was AMAZING. It’s so incredibly written and packs one hell of a punch. The whole track is great, but those verses are somthing else. It’s another massive highlight of the album, and another track that makes the playlist!
Tracks like ‘Default’ and closer ‘Nepotism’ are similar to a lot of the rest. However, to Vexed ‘s credit, single ‘Trauma Euphoria’ and ‘It’s not the End’ both mix it up a bit. Both feature more of a focus on cleaner vocals and slower, radio-friendlier sections around the heavy, harsh screams. The former is a very good choice as a single as it combines the bands trademark heaviness with a genuinely huge, anthemic and catchy chorus. Oh, and it also has a fantastic guitar solo, something I have only just realised now have been absent for much of the album. It only made this one hit harder, though, it was awesome. The track could be massive off that chorus alone, and it should, as it’s amazing. Playlisted!
Meanwhile the latter feels the closest thing to a ballad the album has. It opens slow and clean, decending into a very angry chorus. The ambient sounds behind it though is so beautiful and so Spiritbox. Controversial opinion though, Vexed do it better than Spiritbox. It’s another highlight track of the album, and I only wish it was put earlier on to break things up a little more.
Overall: I LOVED THIS. While the whole album was amazing, there’s a good 5/6 tracks here that are going to stay in my frequent rotation for the rest of the year, guaranteed. Given that I am typically not as into this style as a lot of others are, I couldn’t get enough of it. They’re the sub-genre leaders after this, in my opinion, and they are going to be a massive deal in the years to come. They have a big new fan in me, and now I just need to see this live!
The score: 9.5/10