Today, it’s easy to find bands mixing different musical ways into Metal to try something different and personal to become above the norm, to be heard in the middle of the flood of releases that are throw in the market every day. Such strategy can really bring great releases for the fans, but if the greater parts of the fans don’t note them, someone will use such ways in the future (as THERION does, and humbly makes reference to CELTIC FROST’s “Into the Pandemonium” on past interviews, and this last one was despised by the fans on its original release for be extremely ahead of its time). And one can check the courage of the UK based quartet VULGARIS on trying something different with “Seat of the Fire”, their second full-length.

The amazing cover artwork is a creation of Leoncio Harmr, and it’s intrinsically related to the main concept of the lyrics of “Seat of the Fire”. And it was recorded, mixed and mastered by Monolith Studios in London. The idea was to create a sonority that could allow the band to work freely into their musical alchemy, or in other words, to allow melodies and arrangements to be heard, but that could embrace the aggressiveness of their music as well. And everything worked as it must, fitting on the band’s musical ideas. The band can be said as an extreme Metal act that uses elements of Black Metal (as so shrieks and blizzard-like riffs, as heard clearly on “Swarm”), Sludge Metal, Thrash Metal, Death Metal (many blast beats and double bass parts on the drums) and with a melodic embodiment inherited from traditional Heavy Metal and a very good instrumental technique. One could ask if such mix is possible, and as the quartet shows, it is in a great way, with many hooks that will bind the listeners easily.

The lyrics are references of the Greek myth of the Titan Prometheus that, after being released from his torment, sees the harm and destruction that mankind did to the world with his gift (remembering that the fire represents the intelligence), so he now wants vengeance on human race. For this lyrical concept, some feelings of what is depicted on the album can be felt clearly on the short instrumental songs “Lyomenos”, “Pyrphoros”, and “Pyrkaeus”, leaving the massacre to be done by “Black Gold Baptism” (that comes with a long and climatic intro, then becoming in an outbreak of intense guitar riffs and arrangements on many rhythmic shifts, with an excellent melodic tach), “Swarm” (that ignites as a Black Metal song, but soon is filled with many different traces, and with very good and technical rhythmic artillery from bass guitar and drums), “Asphyxiation” (with some slow rhythms and clean vocals entwining with shrieked tunes), “Prometheus Rise” (this is a long one, showing the band’s care for the instrumental parts and arrangements, with some Thrash Metal-like hooks, but always with ambiences and feelings of what is shown on the lyrics), “Siege” (the shifts between Thrash Metal and Black Metal-like ambiences is amazing, and very good blast beats are heard as well), and “Seat of the Fire”.

It’s clear “Seat of the Fire” is an excellent release, and that the tendency is that VULGARIS’ musical ideas will take them higher in the near future. It’s a matter of the fans giving themselves a chance and listening to the band 🤘🏻 🤘🏻 🤘🏻!