Rating: 7.0

Country: Singapore

Release Date: 2004

Record Label: Vrykoblast Productions

Track list:
2. To Eat [MP3]
1. The Battle Of Badr
2. The Lazha Awaits
3. Dark Eternal Flames
4. Soulless Flesh, Fleshless Soul
5. The Burial Of Sadum
6. Bombardment From The Brimstone Squadron
7. Zabaniah Nemesis Of Jahim
8. Ushered By The Talkin
9. In Filthy Vomits
10. Bured With Munkar Nakir
11. Desecrating The Ancient Ones

Total playing time 26:48

Band Website: Vrykolakas

Vrykolakas - Spawned from Hellfire and Brimstone

Andi - Vocals
Iman - Guitar, Vocals
Khairil - Guitar, Vocals
Edi - Drums

Often I've been asked why I don't (blindly) support the Asian metal scene (particularly the South-East one) as much being an ‘Asian' myself. I know many who go on incessantly praising Asian bands like their first ever or only girlfriend- the one girl who, by chance, happened to speak to them or something close to that. Actually, I would be more than happy to support them but I can't help it if most of the South-East Asian bands I've heard are just third rate wannabes who are simply unwilling to attempt something different and instead try endlessly (and usually hopelessly) to just imitate their favourite bands and then hope to escape the harsh criticism under the pretext of being merely a nascent Asian band. I for one refuse to spend my already scarce money on them when there are terrific bands bursting and popping out at you these days like popcorn from a popcorn machine that's Europe. Well anyway, right now I consider myself extremely blessed to have got a rare chance to write about some rather unknown South East Asian band, which doesn't suck.

In short, say, if Nile ever went shopping to Singapore and bumped into, flirted and eventually impregnated Incantation, the bulge that would emerge as a result would probably sport an endorsed tattoo of Vrykolakas. The Nile sperms are derived mostly from their 'Black Seeds of Vengeance' album and Vrykolakas don't only play their Egyptian riffs, but also use some of their epic-ness to good effect and manage to even create a build up for it. Incantation's influences on the other hand are smartly picked mainly from their 'Diabolical Conquest', 'The Infernal Storm' and 'Blasphemy' albums. I'm sure you must be wondering how a Nile + Incantation mix would sound like but surprisingly these semi-chinks blend it well and make it work. Quite interestingly, the album takes a different turn towards the end starting from the song “Ushered By The Talkin” where Grave influences from their 'You'll Never See'-era make their special appearance. It's this part of the album where the band sounds more old school and plays some vicious riffs, some of which come off sounding like Asphyx. Yeah, without a doubt the album gets heaps better towards the end and makes you wonder what the hell they were doing on their earlier songs then.

The production is ok, decent for their standards but not classy enough. It sounds as if they are playing live in their basement. The drum sound is a bit "hollow", the guitar tone is fuzzy (but distinguishable) and the leads sound as thin as paper. Speaking of which, they must play more leads - I was totally convinced after hearing the ones in songs like “Zabaniah Nemesis of Jahim” and “Desecrating the Ancient Ones”. They instantly reminded me of the Polish Damnation. The songs are very short – 11 songs in like 26mins but fortunately they don't end abruptly. I would however like them to work towards integrating their influences into a solid identifiable Vrykolakas sound instead of making the album seem like a 3-way split between Nile, Incantation and Grave. (Actually, after doing some investigation I noticed that this album contains songs from their previous split cds, which perhaps explains why).

The vocalist sounds as if he's trying to emulate early Incantation's Craig Pillard but can't find enough wind in his throat and then ends up reminding me of the vocals on Adramelech's 'Psychotasia' album, only not so unique. During the latter part of the album you can often notice him trying to make an effort to deliver his vocals like Mike Saez from the last two Incantation albums (not counting their latest one). He ought to make some effort to get more bass and weight in his voice to leave an impression though.

Well I have to say, Vrykolakas tear off their whimsy shirts Hogan-style and show great heart (er.. womb?) and promise. I hope they take a few necessary precautions to avoid a possible abortion after so much effort and finally deliver a healthy, nasty screaming baby in the form of their 2nd album. For once, I would urge you guys to check out this rather unknown Singaporean band if given a chance.

It's good to see Asian bands playing pure death metal instead of jumping on to the brutal death/goregrind bandwagon.

July 15th, 2005