From Industrialized Metal

Vhan is a metal band from Belgium. Before the release of this debut album we're discussing here right now, the band released a couple of demos, and most of all played various live shows and festivals, sharing the stage with bands such as Do Or Die, Napalm Death, Born From Pain and Sworn Enemy. Their music can be described as 'raging metal with hardcore touches'.

After the intro, the release kicks off with 'Secret'. It's a wicked track, with diverse drumming and powerful riffing, bringing a mix of hardcore and (industrial?) death metal. The song as well includes some very interesting guitar picks. 'First Blood' moves from heavy sounding midtempo parts to catchy uptempo parts, with wicked guitarwork and diverse vocal lines. 'His Life On TV' is another heavy sounding track, with recogniseable programming and riffing perfectly melted together with the vocal lines. 'The Faithful' opens with AC/DC likely guitarwork, which gets repeated in the chorus. Furthermore, the track is a decent and powerful midtempo hardcore metal track, with small influences from out the metalcore corner. 'My Mission' is a two-minute track, with a heavy opener and a pretty easy listening attitude. It goes from death metal to modern metalcore and even a little bit of nu-metal. 'The Hunt' comes with a death metal opening, experimental drumloops and riffing and a wicked amount of energy, turning it into my personal favorite track of the release. 'Crash (A Beast In A Soul)' comes with an almost smoothy opening, a wellknown riff on the intermezzo and very powerful drumming. The release ends with the title track 'Hero Vs Hero' - which turns out to be a decent midtempo track mixing metalcore with some old school influences and a big amount of enthausiasm.

Despite the name of our zine, Vhan isn't really an industrial metal band. Then why still this review? Because I feel that many industrial metal fans might appreciate this album too. If you're more into the heavier stuff - think Dagoba / Fear Factory / Zuul FX - you will probably have a blast listening to this album. Vocalwise this band reminds me to my personal favorite vsxe band Seven Generations, while musicwise we can find many touches of metalcore and hardcore. The thing that makes this band unique is definitely the guitarwork, with experimental picks and tiny solos this band created an own sound that, when compared, might come the closest to Nearea and maybe Heaven Shall Burn - but still I wouldn't count on it that much. Basically an album you need to hear all by yourself first.

Vote: 85 / 100