Era Vulgaris are a fresh breath of air in the modern world of metal music. In these days of non-visionary metal music, this Irish four-piece have done what they wanted to do and come out as winners. No trends followed, no genre borders bewared. Just pure selfishness.

Era Vulgaris play thrash metal a progressive way. That's because they mix in today's rock (something like Mastodon, I presume) and a pinch of metalcore. Progressive elements bring names such as Death, Control Denied and Atheist to my mind. This band do not seduce with beautiful melodies, but they do it the ugly, life-smelling way. There's no other way for me to picture how Era Vulgaris sound. Playing is skilful, and it feels like it was played live. The production job actually makes it sound like it was played at a tent at some festival. Vocals are varying from shouting to screaming and clean ones. The latter are bad, especially on 'Brittle' and 'Fate Draws a Curtain', and it would be so much better without them. 'Imram' is a lengthy instrumental song, which manages to carry a listener through, but generally some of the songs are too long. Cutting them probably would've make them a tad more accessible, tighter.

All in all, this raises allurement for obscure. A Listener gets surprised loads of times during these 55 minutes. For me, this was an interesting trip, but I never got into it, thanks to those badly sung clean vocals and generally ugly music. But if you're looking for something different, then check Era Vulgaris out, as they are guaranteed to give you something different but not easily. Points for uniqueness!

Rating: 5½ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
07/31/2007 21:23