(written by Islander)
“Formed in late 2023 on Chicago’s northside, VOW draw from the melodic and emotional intensity of European death metal greats such as Eucharist, Gates of Ishtar, and Dawn, merging those influences with the urgency of hardcore and the metallic edge of the NWOAHM.”
That’s part of the introduction provided by press materials we’ve received for Vow’s debut EP, Death Will Be My Bridge, which they describe as their “first definitive vision of mournful, forlorn melodic death metal, crafted for dark nights and darkened skies”. Those materials also include statements by Vow guitarist Aaron O’Neill, including this:
While working out the new material I was very conscious of what our peers were doing and where we may or may not fit in. Ultimately, I grew tired of worrying what others would think and just wanted to create something memorable that would hopefully stand on its own regardless of what was happening around us.
I do not disguise my influences; without name-dropping there are flourishes of melodic death & black Metal, epic doom, heavy metal, USPM, and 2000s metalcore often all within the same song. My goal for this record was to weaponize our affinity for these styles in an original way that makes sense and is true to us.
As an even more immediate representation of Vow’s multi-faceted dynamics, what we have for you today is the premiere of the EP’s powerful title song in advance of the record’s May 15 release by Iron Fortress Records.
Regarding the meaning behind this title track, we’ll share the comments of vocalist Andy Klingensmith:
“Death Will Be My Bridge“, like the rest of the record, is a song that exists in a war-torn world where devastation and violence surround us at every turn. “On the roof of every building, at the end of every corner, on the tips of every tree branch,” we are confronted by the terrors of a world where tragedy is forever more common than fortune. Despite this, this song has a triumphant place in our live setlist, where it feels more like the beating of a shield than any acceptance of defeat. It is marked by its ending, the most funereal moment of the album, where our story collapses into ash.
“My pain is not enough, it never was” are the final words spoken on the second single and the record as a whole. It perfectly encapsulates the idea that, to me, has always been the core of this band: it’s not enough to simply feel your pain, you have to use it for something, anything.
You had best fully oxygenate your lungs and get your neck limber before listening, because this song is action-packed and heavy-hitting, though it’s also unmistakably dark, especially at the end, and very memorable. It changes relentlessly as Vow constantly shift the riffs, the tempos, the melodies, and the moods. It’s held together in part through the recurrence of certain musical and rhythmic motifs, and in part by the enormous punch of the grooves and the shattering intensity of the furiously howling vocals (though they occasionally descend into cold, guttural roars).
The band waste no time seizing the listener’s attention, opening the song with some extremely grim spoken words and quickly following that with a wildly whirling and vividly vibrating first riff that’s backed by your first exposure to the rhythm section’s gut-slugging and skull-cracking power.
From there the changes begin as Vow move the riffing into a grim and gloomy phase of abrasion and crank the grooves into hardcore brutishness. Dual lead guitars also rise up and dazzle, though their melody seems both anxious and anguished, and the music then blares and pounds, rattles and gallops, and ejects furious fretwork pulsations and poisonous slithering sensations.
About three minutes in, the band inflict a crushing breakdown, not just a bone-shaker but an emotionally crushing experience too, near hopeless in its mood. Afterward, when the drums start hammering, the guitars seem to wail in harmonies of pain, and to frantically quiver in despair.
In the song’s final minute, when the pace again slows and the vocals drop far down, the slow-moving melody becomes heartbreaking and grief-stricken.
The EP includes six tracks. It was recorded with Greg Livas at Ohmstead Studios in Chicago and mixed and mastered by Spenser Morris. The records’s stunning cover art was created by the great Juanjo Castellano, with the band’s logo and additional photography by Ash Miyagawa.
Iron Fortress will release Death Will Be My Bridge on May 15th, on vinyl and CD formats. This new title song will be released as a single for streaming on April 22nd. Below you’ll also find a stream of the EP’s first single, “New Patterns in the Blood“, and a poster for Vow’s upcoming tour.
PRE-ORDER:
https://www.ironfortressrecords.com
VOW:
https://www.instagram.com/vowdeath
