VADER: “HUMANIHILITY”

(The Polish titans Vader have bestowed upon us a new EP named Humanihility that will be sprung free by Nuclear Blast on May 30th. Below is our writer DGR‘s take on what it offers.)

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! It’s that time of year in which Vader drops a new EP on us that will no doubt offer a solid preview of things forthcoming from the now three-guitarist-armed band. Vader have done this like clockwork for years now, in between full-length albums offering up a two- or three-song EP that shows where their headspace is at, usually as a tight enough package on its own that it can hold people over for the extended wait that some album cycles tend to require.

They’re also a pretty good preview of what sort of Vader you’ll likely be getting on whatever upcoming full-length the titans have in store. Will it be death metal heavy Vader? Will it be thrashier Vader? Will Vader buck all trends and finally go full avante-garde and unleash some sort of blackened folk swing with extra emphasis on tuba? Will we get another fun cover song in the mix? Will we finally figure out how to work the word “lugubrious” into a review without calling attention to it beforehand?

Schrödinger’s Vader exists in multiple forms in the lead-up to the first spin of a new Vader EP and the sheer potential of it all is enough to keep things exciting.

It’s wild to think there’s been five years between releases for Vader this time around – not odd though, considering we lost two or three years there – and the band waste no time getting things moving, judging by the fact that their new EP Humanihility is under ten minutes worth of music. Which then leaves one question to be answered: What sort of Vader are we getting this time?

Humanihility is a potent mix of elements familiar to Vader fans. They’ve had their groove and formula – which undeniably works – for decades now and in the case of Humanihility they’re continuing the Solitude In Madness trend from 2020, with the death metal side of their sound coming across decidedly dominant.

Vader have a tower of songs that are built entirely around spinning up circle pits like an unsettled ocean whirling into violent maelstroms, and opener “Genocide Designed” is going to easily add to that. One could create a multi-hour playlist of songs wherein the buzzing guitar riff that Vader favors for “Genocide Designed” is the driving factor for the whole of their career. Many things are recognizably Vader and “Genocide Designed” is well placed among them. The multitude of solos that twist their way into the song transmogrify it into a glorious shredding guitar demo as well, with one seemingly placed right at the every-minute-mark along the way.

“Rampage” on the other side of the spectrum is a two-minute barn-burner of a song, which is built to be weaponized and dropped right in the middle of a set. You can almost imagine it arriving with no announcement, just the band suddenly dropping into the absolute madness of the song that is “Rampage” and watching the crowd go nuts once the survival instinct kicks in.

Humanihility closes with “Unbending”, which is a stompier song than we’ve been traditionally treated to from Vader. “Unbending” has also earned the honor of being the anthem for the 2025 edition of Mystic Festival in Poland. “Unbending” leans a little heavy on the mid-tempo battles, beer-swigging, and brotherhood side of metal when it comes to rhythm but it is a decent come-down after the more chaotic antics of the two songs leading up to it.

Humanihility has had a surprising amount of time pass behind albums and one that even caught us by surprise. Vader never slowed down in the time between releases and always seemed to have something coming that would keep their name in the spotlight for a bit. That may be why the five years between full-length and the unleashing of Humanihility didn’t seem that long. However, we’re now in the part of the Vader timeline wherein the group likely have some full-length work waiting in the wings and Humanihility may be the preview show for it.

If that’s the case, songs like “Genocide Designed” and “Rampage” are good examples of a future forest fire that may be emerging from the band. Those two songs make this EP worth looking into on their own. “Unbending” may not land as hard as one would like but Schrödinger’s Vader can be a lot of things at any one time – so long as a lot of those are still on the death or thrash metal side of things. Vader‘s take on straight-shooting would rank as “pretty good” for a lot of other bands, so as long as the follower to Humanihility keeps in line with songs like “Genocide Designed” and “Rampage”, we’re in for another pretty good future release from the Vader camp.

Humanihility on its own is a solid block of headbanging prowess that’ll fit in perfectly with their overall – and vast – collective of music from a multi-decade career.

https://vader.bfan.link/humanihility
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