Guillotine

2017 release. Vulture from North-Rhine Westphalia have stirred up some decent attention among speed and thrash fans with their debut EP Victim To The Blade, and they are now presenting us with their stunning debut The Guillotine. Vulture's take on playing metal can best be described as a sped-up Judas Priest record sprinkled with Bay Area thrash and Canadian speed, steeped in the atmosphere of early Mercyful Fate/ King Diamond. Vulture started recording The Guillotine in early 2016. The band went to Hellforge Studio to work with their good old friend and comrade in arms Marco Brinkmann. Recording the album was hell of a ride, due to the high pressure everyone felt, but in spite of that, Marco did an amazing job. The mix is absolutely marvelous and sets a new standard for the genre. Every riff is like a razor cut, every shriek pierces our eardrums, and every hit of the snare makes your heart beat faster. The mastering was done by Patrick W. Engel of Temple Of Disharmony and suits the mix in the best imaginable way. The artwork for the album was done by the fabulous Velio Josto, an Italian artist, whose razor-sharp realistic kind of style literally cuts the album sleeve in half with a flashing guillotine blade. What makes this album stand out the most is it's very well thought-through and mapped out songwriting. Vulture are living up to their own high standards regarding heavy metal music. Every aspect of the album is calculated, nothing's left to chance. And still, the album is vibrating, it's vivid, wild and far from sounding modern, artificial or mediocre.