{"id":94670,"date":"2022-07-22T00:00:53","date_gmt":"2022-07-21T23:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=94670"},"modified":"2022-08-03T18:37:57","modified_gmt":"2022-08-03T17:37:57","slug":"album-review-vandhali-fever-dream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-vandhali-fever-dream\/","title":{"rendered":"VANDHALI – Fever Dream (2022) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

VANDHALI
Fever Dream<\/strong><\/span>
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\nSelf-released (2022)<\/span>
Rating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Yes, Vandhali are heavily influenced by the 70s and Black Sabbath<\/a>. So now that elephant in the room is out of the way we can enjoy this record which is the work of vocalist \/ guitarist Craig Harker, bassist Kyle Loeffler and drummer Stephen Rael. This is some good, doomy retro heaviness from Denver, Colorado, with the band exhibiting strong, catchy if somewhat formulaic riffs and effective vintage vibes. <\/p>\n

The band comes into its own with the more wistful \u2018Magic Helmet\u2019 which struts and creaks nicely, although opener \u2018River Styx\u2019 has a strong Black Sabbath flavour, particularly in the Tony Iommi-inspired lead work and general feel of the track \u2013 for example, Sabbath\u2019s \u2018The Wizard\u2019.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere there are examples of Vandhali being more than just what so many bands are becoming bogged down by\u2026 mimicry. \u2018Moss Creeper\u2019 is atmospheric, suspenseful and yet subtle, \u2018Cauldron Of Spells\u2019 is monstrously consuming with its distorted groove, and \u2018Judas Goat\u2019 has an almost heavy, 60s fuzz-cum-psych approach, again though, all wrapped up in that proto doom sort of misty shroud.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also a lot of strangeness to behold with this intriguing debut album. \u2018Stone In The Lake\u2019 brims with sinister rhythmic pulses and the title track shifts straight into top gear as a rumbling, cosmic eloper of wondrously psychedelic design and boasting eerie yet brief narration. Vandhali conjure the sort of dread Sabbath made their own \u2013 just check the riff of \u2018Double Mind\u2019 and become entranced by this behemoth of a record that\u2019s boggier than a witches cauldron.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VANDHALIFever Dream Self-released (2022)Rating: 8\/10 Yes, Vandhali are heavily influenced by the 70s and Black Sabbath. So now that elephant in the room is out of the way we can enjoy this record which is the work of vocalist \/ guitarist Craig Harker, bassist Kyle Loeffler and drummer Stephen Rael. This is some good, doomy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,4917],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-vandhali"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94670"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94673,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94670\/revisions\/94673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}