Extreme music is alive and well as proved by Boston musicians VAULTED in their November release "Left in Despair."

The lyric writing is a lot like minimalist poetry - there isn't a lot of heavy description going on, but there is still a clear vision of destruction, death, and pain. I really liked the imagery presented in the song "Supreme Beings" in the lyrics "visions like portals." This phrase just evokes all the images from creepy science fiction movies I've seen like "Event Horizon."

Everything about this album is extreme in every way - from the yelling vocals to the angry riffs to the hammering drums to the negative imagery and connotations in the lyrics. It was made with maximum speed and ruthlessness in mind, no doubt. My main issue with this is that nothing really stands out. All of the sounds sound a lot alike and are about the same things just using synonyms of different words. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing bad about it, but there's nothing that really pops.

I'm really confused about the vocal effect used initially in "Reincarnate Eternal." It makes the words difficult to understand and sounds muddled. Throughout the album the vocals already seem overpowered by the music, but the vocals in the beginning of this one just sound especially drowned. Thankfully, it's only like this in just one song.

I will say the band ends things with this album on a strong note. I really like the riffs in "Shallow Vacancy." I think this one and "Supreme Beings" are the best songs on the album. I actually didn't dislike any of the songs, but as mentioned before all of them sound so much alike it's a little difficult to pick and choose or compare and contrast. I definitely think "Shallow Vacancy" stands out the most, which is ideal for it being the last song. Overall, the guys in VAULTED released a good extreme metal album that will get the attention of genre fans.