A few years ago, during a metal show at Jack's Pizza and Wings in Atlanta, I was kicked in the head by crowd-surfing Charlie Southern (VIMUR guitarist) in the middle of a frenzied crowd during a DISFIGUREMENT set. Although I played it off without anyone knowing I was kicked, it hurt like a motherfucker. I had a non-stop headache for three months straight. Right before going away abruptly, I could feel electric shocks jolting my skull at random times. And that's sort of what VIMUR'S second full-length "Triumphant Master Of Fates" reminds me of...Music that throbs your brain like a jackhammer while shocking the system into a stupor. VIMUR is like a hellspawn locomotive running over the corpses of angels.
Just like their other bands, vocalist Vaedis (Hellgoat), Charlie Southern...or Australis (SADISTIC RITUAL), drummer Atheos (HELLGOAT) and bassist Kiehul are a furious beast, preying on the weak and attacking with a righteous fury that abandons the typical black metal style and moves the genre forward with inhuman intensity. First track 'Seditious Apertures' is a fast-paced opener that clearly makes its statement to the listener that the band's out for blood. 'Consumed By The Source' is another blitzkrieg of a track that emphasizes the melodic, yet spiraling riffs and machine-gun drumming. It's ever-changing form shifts and morphs, while creating a mesmerizing atmosphere. 'Adversarial Impetus Ignition' speeds up, slows down, and just plain kicks you in the balls.
After a soundscape to shift things out of gear a little, 'Nuclear Desecration' speeds full-throttle ahead with an aggressive bludgeoning of the senses. Mid-tempo 'Our Dearest Hopes Lie Buried Here' makes way for final track 'Supreme Preemption Of The Lightless Empire', an almost 11-minute ending to an almost perfect album.
Atlanta's rising metal scene is graced with bands like VIMUR...a band that understands metal while heralding in the evolution of the genre. If you like your black metal supersonic, blistering and chaotic, then you won't be disappointed with "Triumphant Master Of Fates". The title says it all...Fucking goddamned triumphant in every way.
-David Simonton