I hate albums like this. I don’t hate them from a musical point of view; I hate them from a reviewer’s perspective. My job is to describe which albums are more appealing than others, and describe why.

I have no idea how to accurately describe VULTURE INDUSTRIES musically, and furthermore, explain WHY “The Dystopia Journals” is slowly turning out to be one of my favourite albums of the year,

Well, it is unconventional and forward thinking, heavily influenced by the Progressive Metal scene that is currently thriving in Norway, blending some Black Metal elements, mainly their melodies, with symphonic, electronic and theatrical elements. It is very accessible because of all the shifts in mood that occur throughout, and the constant change in the layers and melodies that occur as the song progresses, yet it still has some of the grit and the darkness (for lack of a better term) that is prevalent in most of the Black Metal influenced bands. So it’s very rich in melodic and harmonic content, it has a nice use of keyboards & violin in order to accentuate and add contrast to the songs, and the vocals are very theatrical, sounding like a slightly demented court jester, which adds to the more narrative approach of the songwriting…

Speaking of the vocals, the clean vocals are a dead ringer for Garm. Well, when he was singing for ARCTURUS, anyway. The singer has that slightly crazy tone in his voice, and his will to sing around the guitars and bass give him more freedom to express himself, and his off-kilter approach reminds me of ARCTURUS, which is a great compliment.

I hope this was enough to convince you to check these guys out, because this is one of the best releases of 2007.

(Online December 29, 2007)