So I found Vader at my local Salvation Army op shop (non-Aussies:
an op shop is a thrift store). And by Vader I mean the Impressions
In Blood album by Vader, the Polish death metal band that’s been around for
decades.
I was furiously stuffing VHS tapes into my bag when I happened
to spot this gem from the Vader discography. The Salvos store was doing a “five
for a dollar” VHS cassette tape special so naturally I couldn’t resist enriching
my personal film collection with quality titles like Bruce Lee Fights Back From The Grave…, famously filmed well after Bruce
Lee had well and truly died.
Anyway, this Vader album was behind the front counter, hiding among the fresh
summer hits of the ’90s and Irish party jigs compilations normally populating the
CD section at Salvos store. It was going for a bargainous $4, so I had to get
it.
Vader: Impressions In Blood
The Impressions In
Blood death metal album is release number eight for Vader. For those who
can tell the difference, it marks something of a stylistic change from the thumping,
blast-beat-driven death metal brutality of earlier Vader albums. The vocals are
now comprehensible (but they’re not clean vocals by any stretch of the
imagination); there are fast bits and there
are slow bits; it has some
atmospheric synths here and there; and there is even some creepy ‘experimental’
drumming (on the track Field Of Heads)
for good measure. It has a bit less to do with death metal than previous
efforts like De Profundis or Litany or Revelations. Instead, it borrows heavy duty head-banging riff inspiration from thrash metal.
If you know what kind of subject matter Vader’s lyrics tend
to deal with, then you may find it amusing that a Vader album was for sale at a
Salvation Army store. If not, then see below.
My copy actually has this cardboard cover on the CD jewel case. So far, nothing
too shocking. It looks a bit menacing but then again so does the artwork for
Bruce Lee Fights Back From The Grave…
Now here’s the actual Impressions
In Blood album artwork.
“Hey, that looks like something from Giger,” said the guy
serving me as he went to insert the CD disc. Well… not quite. Where are the biomechanical
designs? But he left it at that. Because if he’d seen the album track names and
lyrics…
... he may have seen that there’s a track called Helleluyah!!!
(God Is Dead)! That’s some serious anti-religious, blasphemous death metal
right there. The lyrics to the track As
Heavens Collide… roll with lines like “Religion, as opium to mankind / Oppressed
by myths and lies / All bibles, written by the human race / Institution for the
sheeps (sic)” (Polish death metal
bands are known more for their mastery of sonic fierceness than for their grasp of English grammar).
For me, the discovery of a Vader CD at this specific location is
kind of amusing, given that… WARNING: RANT COMING UP… the Salvation Army is at
its core a highly organised and militant religious lobby group backed by an exceptionally
slick PR machine.
This isn’t to say that the salvos don’t do a whole lot of
essential good for those who are most vulnerable. It’s just that their moral code
— derived from an interpretation of documents that predate the invention of
electricity or the realisation that the earth is in round — thinks of you as less
if you happen to be gay. And by “less” I mean you don’t
deserve to live if, for example, you’re a dude who prefers other dudes.
If your dinner-date is nice to you but for no reason
is an arsehole to the waiter, then guess what: your date is still an arsehole.
And a charitable organisation that is generous and caring to
the most disadvantaged but is intentionally cold and cruel to a selected
minority is still cold and cruel.
So I’m glad I didn’t mention anything about those blasphemous
lyrics when I purchased Vader’s Impressions
In Blood. Had I opened my big mouth, I may not have left the store with such
fine new acquisitions. Instead, I may have left with nothing except a copy of Bruce
Lee Fights Back From The Grave.
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