Band: Fearless Vampire Killers
Release: Militia of the Lost (Album)
Release Date: 7th May 2012
Now, we all know the stigma the name My Chemical Romance can get in music today. They have devout fans, and then they have the haters, the ones that focus on ‘The Black Parade’ and ‘Danger Days’. People seem to forget that they used to be a very talented band, with harmonic vocals, incredible passion and a lot more edgy, heavier side to their music. Fearless Vampire Killers are what they should have carried on with; they are musically spot on, with irresistible harmonic voices and a look set to kill the heart of any unsuspecting female that wanders passed them.
Their debut album, ‘Militia Of The Lost‘ is one of the best albums released this year, I can honestly hold my hand up and tell you that straight. I wouldn’t have expected this kind of material from a band on their debut album, this is something I would expect them to evolve into, and with the album being so on the money as it is, I want to know what they have planned for the future before this album has even been released.
The album is a story as it were, taking place in a Tolkien-esque city, talking about its rise and then it’s subsequent fall. I could carry on, but what better than the band themselves to explain what the album is about.
“The songs are about the events in the lead up to, and subsequently the repercussions of, the city’s royal palace being set on fire. Amongst all this chaos, deceit and violence, five men cross paths and get dragged into this world of monsters and crazed revolutionaries. They are the Fearless Vampire Killers…The music we create isn’t restrained by genre specifications; our songs can just as easily be played on a piano as they can with a full live band. The album kicks off with serrated guitars and harsh vocals and ends with a track that probably owes more to Elton John than to any rock bands, but we make no apologies! We’re trying to create a musical extravaganza – something that is going to stick in peoples ears and not sound like a carbon copy of something else. Even if you hate us, you can’t say we don’t sound different.”
Like any mystical story, the album goes through, pacing itself like a well written novel, from the first bite in ‘Necromania’, and ending on the final goodbye in ‘Mascara Tears and Vanilla Spice’, no single song is filler, each one has their place in the ever expanding story that they’re trying to convey to the listener. Even with the album being a novel in its own rights, a listener is always going to have their favourite songs, and the standout tracks for this release have to be the likes of ‘Bow Ties On Dead Guys’ which is both incredibly addictive and powerful in the same way.
The vocals of dual-frontmen Keir Kemp and Laurence Beveridge in ‘Fetish For The Finite’, is, quite frankly, trance inducing, both bang on, and complimenting each other in equal measures. There is a hidden edginess in ‘Bleed Till Sunrise’, that brings you into a self sense of security, until they release what is one of the most harmonic chorus’ on the entire album.
One of the most incredible, and addictive albums currently this year, it will have any owner playing constantly for weeks on end, and with enough variety within the album to not make it dragging at any point of time. They clearly have a fan area locked down already, the My Chemical Romance fans and Panic! at the Disco fans will flock towards this band, but they have the sort of variety and number of tunes that has the potential to bring any music fan into their ever embracing vampire arms.
