Vexillum – When Good Men Go to War Review

by

In the previous review I was just writing about how Metal music loves the grand and the epic. Now I receive the release of Vexillum “When Good Men Go to War” to reinforce everything I wrote before. Witht the plus that it’s a Power Metal band. Does anyone know any Metal style that loves the grand more than Power Metal? I don’t.

I always say that Power Metal is predictable, do I not? Yeah, but sometimes a band proves me wrong. Vexillum here have many of the Power Metal features plus the folk vector as well. I mean, the band managed so well to mix the pipe and the flutes in the music that they do seem as an organic part of it as if they belonged to it for good. The melt is so well done that “Good Men Go to War” may sound as a hybrid, what I guess, it is. But how about the taste for the grand and the epic? Well, they are present since day one, I mean, since track one. Eleven minute “Enlight the Bivouac,” as a good invitation card, shows all the cards Vexillum got. The track is like a good story told with all the elements of a great narrative. It bounces the crescendo parts in order to maintain the emotion in al the song. One thing that the band really knows how to is to maintain the emotion ia crescendo. Some parts of the sogn give the goosebumps due to the mood and atmosphere it creates. The fan gets into the narrative as in a good book. Well, I missed a feature that appears on the second track “Sons of a Wolf” that is the medieval music and characters as dwarves and magicians. “When Good Men Go to War” follows this path.

Metal music is getting more complex in a constant rate. The layers of elements Vexillum put in their music proves that in the point that made me,a person that finds Power Metal predictable, believe the opposite. By the way, I almost forgot another important feature that the band deals pretty that are the rich vocals. Take a look at the last, but not least, track “Quel Che Volevo,” a pretty acoustic song to give “When Good Men Go to War” the grand finale it deserves.

Vexillum “When Good Men Go to War” was released on March 23rd via Scarlet Records.

Track Listing:

  1. Enlight the Bivouac
  2. Sons of a Wolf
  3. Voluntary Slaves Army
  4. When a Good Man Go to War
  5. Last Bearer’s Song
  6. The Deep Breath Before the Dive
  7. Prodigal Son
  8. Flaming Bagpipes
  9. With My Hands
  10. The Tale of the Three Hawks
  11. Quel Che Volevo

Watch “When a Good Man Go to War” official music video here: