Vigilance – Queen of the Midnight Fire
Released: May 14th, 2013
Label: Metal Tank Records
With so much “extreme” metal and bands thinking they have to be angrier and faster than the next guy to be “metal”, it’s good to have a newly formed band come along that goes against that trend. Vigilance goes back to Metal roots, complete with an occult twist and “Queen of the Midnight Fire” is filled with that classic old-school Metal sound.
Hailing from Slovenia and formed in 2010, Vigilance is a band that is heavily influenced by Metal bands like Iron Maiden or Mercyful Fate. They manage to conjure that Metal sound quite well. The tracks on “Queen of the Midnight Fire” are well balanced between speed, melody and just enough heaviness. Tracks like “Speedwave” and “Night Terrors” keep the pace fast with lightning guitar solos, pounding drums that never slow and melodic vocal work by singer Jakob Rejec. Where tracks like “Under Sulphurous Skies” and “What Lies Beyond” keeps some of the speed, but go for a more creepy vibe with guitars that chug more often than they wail and the vocals staying low and melancholy, except for the occasional shriek.
One of the things that really stood out for me on “Queen of the Midnight Fire” are the vocals. Rejec does a fantastic job keeping the vocals fast, clear and melodic. Even his lower level growls sound great. I do think he should stay away from those super high note shrieks though. Those don’t occur very often, don’t sound terrible but they just didn’t do it for me.
If you are a fan of classic Heavy Metal and bands like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and the like, you will enjoy and appreciate what Vigilance has put together with “Queen of the Midnight Fire”.
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