The Pitch: "Erdve unleashes a dark and virulent strain of negative hardcore on their debut album Vaitojimas (meaning Shout). The Lithuanian quartet mine the veins of the genre-smashing metallic noisecore of the late 90's, and filter those influences through an especially hostile attack." - Season Of Mist FFO: LLNN, Valve, Fange
What I Like: Erdve like to alternate between dropping bricks from the 16th story and drifting through dark, fog-ridden dreamscapes. The album opens with a real gut-puncher. "Vaitojimas" will knock the wind out of you for almost 6 straight minutes in the same way most hardcore bands would do in just 2 or 3. It's impressive that they can keep the intesity so high for so long. The cyclone of riffs on "Prievarta" are equally violent, and Vaidota's incisive hardcore delivering renders the language barrier moot. When someone's got you on the ground with his hands around your throat, it's hard to care what language they're screaming in; the tone of his voice tells you everything you need to know. The band wisely mixes these moments up with more expansive, post-metal tracks like "Isnara" and "Pilnatve." It's these introspectively haunting, comparatively quiet moments that allow the harsher ones to kick that much harder. Great pacing, excellent dynamics.
Critiques: If I'm being honest, the first half is better than the second. It all ends up flowing together to make for a great journey, but the first three tracks are the ones I keep coming back to the most.
The Verdict: Vaitojimas will throttle you unconscious and turn your dreams into nightmares. It's a really solid album worthy of the always impressive Season Of Mist discography for sure. I highly encourage giving it a listen if not picking up a copy.
Flight's Fav's: Vaitojimas, Isnara, Prievarta
-Review by FlightOfIcarus
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