Source: Album artwork
Vanna have fast become one of post-hardcore’s brightest beacons, especially after their last album Void broke into the Billboard Top 200. Now the boys from Boston are back with All Hell and they’re here to climb even higher.
‘Paranoia Euphoria’ explodes to life in spectacularly visceral fashion, as Davey Muise spits pure venom. “All I do is drag my bones, in hopes of finding a home. Everyone’s so dead and cold – I wasn’t meant for the world”. The lyrics give you a good idea that this album isn’t going to be light and airy; instead what you are getting is a slab of anger and desolation.
‘Pretty Grim’ follows in a similarly brutal and blunt fashion. “RIP to another friend. Wrap ’em up, throw ’em out and send the next one in.” What also becomes clear at this juncture is how well they have balanced the screaming and clean vocals. Rather than super-clean, high-pitched vocals, Vanna utilise a much rougher clean that is still easily distinguishable from the screaming and it allows their characteristic brutality to flow in a much more satisfying way than some of their contemporaries. In fact, nobody has done the clean/scream balance so well since Alexisonfire.
But it’s not all business as usual here. Vanna are beginning to step beyond their comfort zone as they continue to grow musically. ‘Flower’ ends in a fantastically melodic fashion and it would be nice to see more material in this vein, because they do it very well. ‘Leather Feather’ is also predominantly softer than the standard Vanna fare. Aye, the crushing stylings of Muse are still there but there’s certainly a lot more inclusion of Joel Pastuszak’s exemplary vocals, overall crafting one of the highlights of the album, if not of Vanna’s history.
On top of it all, All Hell ages like the proverbial fine wine, getting better and better with each listen. This is a spectacular collection of tracks from a band that deserves many more plaudits than they currently receive. It is easy to focus on the likes of Letlive. or Pierce the Veil, but Vanna have been at this for more than a decade and continue to deliver killer album after killer album.
Tying up nicely within a tight 35 minutes and closing with the brilliantly-crafted ‘Lead Balloon’, this may be their best outing yet. Unrelenting brutality paired perfectly with bruising instrumentation and again, the finest clean vocals in the business, this album demands and deserves respect. Give it numerous playthroughs if you are not instantly won over, because the charm and the moxie will ensnare you, just as it did with this author.
