Review: Vokodlok “The Egregious Being”

Man, the old days of Black Witchery and Bestial Warlust were fucking great. It’s bands like these mentioned that I think of whenever someone starts to talk Black/Death. There are a shit-ton of underground bands that are valiantly bringing the same sort of bastardry to the table: the  same crusty riffs, the same goat-fucking aesthetic and the same divinity-slaying attitude. There are others like Profanatica who’ve refined it just a bit as far as production quality whilst maintaining their brutal reputations. And then we have the mighty Behemoth! Who’ve evolved from Black Metal to Blackened Death to an altogether modernized version of Black/Death, particularly with the release of their latest LP, The Shit ov God. It’s almost like Behemoth are attempting to accomplish a sound that Poland’s VOKODLOK have down pat…

Vokodlok is a band that began their journey in 2000 as a Black Metal project. They released their first LP, Mass Murder Genesis in 2003 and then? Silence until 2020 when they returned to the scene with an EP in Oracle’s Fury – a much more polished piece of work when compared to their old stuff. Now, the gears of the Vokodlok machine are greased and spinning with torque and precision. On March 14, Vokodlok unleashed their second LP, The Egregious Being independently.

A nicely blended synergy of Black and Death Metal is what we have here: properly engineered, aggressive and brutal, from the epic opening track, “The Human”, with its ominous intro that eases you into the savagery like a conveyor belt that smoothly guides you along into the mouth of Hell, to the maliciously amassed “Bestiarium” with its gravitational Doom-like riffs and temped-paced, soulful leads, all the way through to “The Monster” – a ferocious, unpredictably composed ripper. The Egregious Being is one of those albums for everyone. Any fan of Extreme Metal will cream their jeans for this one. Vokodlok do not rely so much on outlandish brutality like bands such as Belphegor and they certainly do not leave you unfulfilled with produced-in-a-basement, one-dimensional engineering. TEB is just right, like a refreshing Blue Moon, as opposed to a piss light beer or a hangover-inducing dark ale. I don’t know if these guys choose to operate independently or not, but if they’re in need of Label representation, they’d be a great addition to any roster.

We’ve come a long way since the aforementioned Black Witchery/Bestial Warlust era. You can’t stop evolution. With The Egregious Being, Vokodlok flash contemporary steel, all the while as they remain in tune with the spirit of those old-school days. In this rapid-paced industry, it has become increasingly difficult for bands like our boys here to get a solid foothold, but as long as Vokodlok keeps pumping out records like this one, scaling their way to the upper echelons of the scene should prove to be an effortless task. Not a perfect album, but one to proudly stamp their name on is The Egregious Being. Here’s to the blackest death!

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