Veilcaste - Precipice

Conjurer is a popular name among metal bands, including the UK’s young extreme proggers. A quintet from Indianapolis decided after a good nine years and two albums to drop it and has been spreading it ever since Veilcaste ominous mood between Doom and Sludge. A split with Tusk now follows „Precipice“the first album under this name, whose sheer force tries to overwhelm and delight.

The wholesome thunder of “Asunder Skies” unleashes the first of seven bittersweet blasts, as gruff as it is sympathetic. The deliberately unpolished sound, which makes room for casual yet precise sawing, is quickly noticeable. Dustin Mendel’s vocals – half sung, half shouted – bring the spirituality of Jaz Coleman into YOB’s sludge realms. Manic energy meets disguised melody, always something standing in its own way and yet so clear in its distorted, rough and at the same time semi-harmonious presentation.

Veilcaste take a seat between the chairs and enjoy the freedom of the uncomfortable. How Mendel almost shoots up the massive “Relapse In Reason”, as precise as it is bilious, knows how to entertain. The metallic doom primordial soup collides in the most brutal way with the pus-filled zeal of Crowbar – if you can do it that way, it knows how to entertain. A few doors down, “Empty Hell” hints at more tempo, at least for a short time, only to slow itself down at the best moment and push the hung guitar towards psycho terror. The caesura in particular torpedoes all the senses with selected malice and gets stuck in the back room.

Veilcaste move in familiar realms and impress them with their very own touch – a tightrope walk that reveals high to the highest entertainment value. “Precipice” explores the regular tension between doom and sludge and provides it with new, undreamt-of malice. The unpolished and at the same time sweet presentation, even in the most abysmal moments, rounds off an exciting debut under a new name and gives skilful expression to the desperation of the genre.

Rating: 8/10

Available from: 02/10/2023
Available through: Wise Blood Records

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