Vendetta: Black as Coal

Vendetta in one form or another have been around since the heyday of Teutonic thrash. Their early work seems to be fairly well regarded in the scene, but the late 80's were a long time ago (depressing at times to hear that, I know) and with only one remaining member and a long period of inactivity during the 90's and 00's it's probably asking a lot for their newest release Black as Coal to be any good. Well my friends, this is why you don't make assumptions about your elder statesmen in the Metal world, because this album has more than a few bright moments to get your blood pumping.

Vendetta are regarded as Teutonic thrashers, but to these ears they sound much more melodic than the other bands in that scene like Kreator or Sodom. There's certainly lots of crunchy and speedy riffs and shouty vocals about war and politics, but there's a lot more melody and traditional metal gallop to the songs on Black as Coal. I'd say their closest contemporary would be American metal legends Metal Church, in that regard. There's more varied songwriting and more ideas than your average full throttle trash band (especially the modern copy cat stuff), that's for sure. And while not all of said ideas are home runs, it's worth the swing.

The chunky rhythm guitars and bass are the highlights of the album, performance wise. Everything honestly sounds pretty damn good here, but the vocals are going to be contentious for most listeners, I think. Singer Mario Vogel largely sounds only mildly irritated on most of the tracks here, which isn't usually a hallmark of the metal genre, much less thrash. His thick accent also gives the whole thing a very "Hans and Franz" from Saturday Night Live vibe, which can't possibly be what they were going for, but hey; I appreciate the fact that it's at least different from the multitude of newer thrash bands that all have insufferably similar vocalists. He tries his hands at more melodic moments from time to time, which isn't great but it's certainly better than when he tries to go full on aggro and sounds like a diseased rooster. Even then, and this is a personal preference, I'd rather have a memorable singer on an album than one that sounds like everyone else. I end up coming full circle on his performance here as the record ebbs and flows.

Black as Coal is pretty front loaded, with most of the more memorable and hard hitting tracks in the first half. Songs like "Shoot to Kill" and "No Hands But a Gun" were nice catchy gut punches to get everything started, and that intensity continues but the hooks and surprisingly melodic riffs begin to wane as the album continues on. You'll still get sparks of radness here and there, however. Thrashy albums have a sweet spot of around 30-40 minutes before they begin to become a bit mundane and grating, and at just shy of 60 mins, this one is a bit of a spicy meatball. Still, you could certainly do a lot worse and you'd never guess a band with a single remaining member and sparce catalog would deliver something as enjoyable and frankly unembarrassing (yes, it's a word) as this one.

Tracklist:
1. Shoot to Kill
2. Stranglehold of Terror
3. No Hands but a Gun
4. AK-47
5. Black as Coal
6. Time to Change
7. Death Means Relief
8. Cheap Death
9. Pall Bearer
10. For Dear Life
11. Beast in Her Eyes

Added: August 16th 2023
Reviewer: Brandon Miles
Score:
Related Link: Band Website
Hits: 403
Language: english

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