There are a lot of new "traditional" bands out there at the moment, and it's definitely a risk for any young band as a result - the chances of your band getting lost amid the crowd are high, but bands do manage to slip through towards the promise of renown; anyone with a good twist has a better chance than most. Having quite a conventional sound, Volture have risen through the ranks the hard way, through tooth and, no pun intended, claw. The strength of the band isn't in the form of a twist, it's in the shape of their wholesome, skilled and outright damn solid playing. The songs are what one would expect from a traditional metal band, but unlike a lot of the new-wave of traditional metal, Volture's material sounds very natural and comfortable. There's no feeling that the bare bones, from-the-crotch metal being played by the band is in any way forced, and that's a damn refreshing thing. Another factor in favour of the band is the production style which they've chosen for the EP; it's pleasantly crunchy and raw, but captures everything - I especially enjoyed the drum-sound, which shuffles along in the most organic, gorgeously oldschool way possible, which, on top of the fact that the drummer is competent, creative, and utterly in his element, makes this album a great percussion job.
The vocals, too, caught my attention. The vocalist, Brent Hubbard, seems to have quite a dichotomy in his singing style - half the time he's got an upper-mid-range singing voice, but on occasionally, he'll burst into a wickedly ghostly falsetto, very much akin to that of King Diamond, which works very effectively when and where it is deployed, and certainly promotes him from a decent vocalist to being a good one. The band's cohesion seems very good too, and they certainly sound tight - managing to smash-out impressive, and catchy-as-hell songs and making it look easy. Perhaps the experience of some of the members boosts this, perhaps the band just gel really well, or perhaps it's a bit of both, but whatever it is, the band definitely possess a spark of impressive magnitude, and I can feel a lot of promise coming from them.
Hearkening back to the days when all metal needed was catchy hooks and an attitude, Volture come to the table armed with... well... Catchy hooks and an attitude. Pleasing in it's simplicity and modesty, but damn effective, and in a way quite fresh-sounding, I can see interesting things in Voltures future.
I think this is worthy of 9/10. I genuinely do.
Links:
Volture Official site
Volture on Myspace
Volture on Facebook
Volture on Metal Archives
