Victims - The Horse and Sparrow

Once in a while even the most professional reviewer, that one that writes dozens of review the week and listens to the same number of bands, is surprised by a band. When you think bands had reached the heyday of mixing and melding than comes Victims with “The Horse and Sparrow” to prove you flat wrong with their technical Hardcore grip – does it even exist. Well, if it doesn’t here it is.

“The Horse and Sparrow” is bold enough to meld into only one influences of a very complex and technical Heavy Metal with elements of Hardcore. The outcome is a very energetic album full of dissonances and octaved guitar lines. The Hardcore influences come with the angry vocal with a pounding and fast drumming. Guitars give the technical grip to “The Horse and Sparrow” by octaving lots of guitar lines as the title track which is a great invitation card to the album. The meltdown goes on with “The Birth of Tragedy” with its guitar lines full of octaved and dissonant riffings and energetic drumming a la Motörhead. This is the album that the fan will listen all tracks in a sudden and will miss not having more. “The Horse and Sparrow” is really what I call a remarkable album.

And when you think you are enough with surprise then comes “We Fail” which was built upon Stephen Cheney’s lecture, a retired US Armed Forces Brigadier General. Victims, as many of their Hardcore peers, don’t fool around with the serious issues humankind is fighting these days and fire everything they’ve got to slam climate changes. To say the least, I totally agree with them. It’s not the time to fool around with our planet’s future and hide the truth. Victims don’t let us forget.

From where I’m standing Victims got to mix the best from Heavy Metal and Hardcore, and from the best I include politics. Times are changing fast are Victims drumming. Time is running low my child of the night.

Victims “The Horse and Sparrow” was released on June 28th via Relapse Records.

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