Black Kobzar Perhaps, the best definition of Vehemence Realized music will be “melancholic urban gothic music”. Michael Otley, whose timbre reminds that of Ian Curtis’, sings truly sad but fortunately not depressively: you want to live. The music seems to be the golden mean between the usage check these guys out of live instruments and electronics though non-live drums sound absolutely dead here and there. A simple trumpet – Bach Strad – but Nathan Roane who played on it, seems to be an uncommon man. The most delicate sounding of his trumpet is the soul of Vehemence Realized. You would compare “Severe” to the early works of Death In June, without a doubt; you can put equals sign between the tranquillity of VR and that of DIJ but Douglas’ tranquillity is out-of-body and Michael and Nathan’s there are strong but well-controlled feelings are hiding under the calmness. The big city, at night, under the rain, the steps of passersby are barely heard, the solitude? Anton Shekhovtsov

Gothic Topic Vehemence Realized is a dark and moody amalgamation of musical sound and sampled effects to fully please the most die-hard gothic fan. There is a tight control on the vocals and mixing which makes this recording sound like a major studio production. A number of horn instruments are utilized throughout this work to provide a Day Of The Dead sensibility that is celebrated annually in Mexico. Since the release of Severe, T. Nathan Roane has left the band with Otley now carrying the entirety of the band’s future. Roane’s numerous wind instruments play like a premonitory farewell to this outfit, thereby making the music that much more macabre and bittersweet. Drum pummels are like hammers against a coffin. The vocals are carefully placed between the channels to provide a different sound through each ear, which is most apparent while wearing the headset.

It is also a moody and mournful tome of love and loss

The trumpet carries through a cavernous space to give an eerie feel of Christmas melancholia and memory. A touch of bongo placement accompanies the keyboards and vocals where we are provided with a view of a isolationism fraught from memory which haunts us during the most mundane of hours. Drum sounds beat in time, imitating a heart heavy with dismay as the feet drag in exhausted abandon. We are strangers on a train, weary travelers with a ticket to nowhere. It is a political song in a way, depicting the one who is pulled from our arms during upheaval and unrest. It almost sounds like gunfire and missiles, harmonizing with a trumpet which calls to the newly departed. It can also be interpreted as a song of love and loss where the “gunfire” is misspent fireworks that have shot off and finally lost their spark and their zeal.

Yet I haven’t told the most important thing yet – all of it would had sounded just nicely if there hadn’t been an instrument I’ve loved passionately – a trumpet

Otley vocally handles the aging aspect with subtle intonations and turns of lyric. Roane provides the background harmony tenor to the memory that is unfolding through the song. One can visualize an elderly person pondering their reflection in the mirror. They envision pulling together to find the extra strength to make it through yet another lonely day among the ruins of memory. This was reminiscent of one who falls asleep in front of the television while their dreams call out to them from the nether reaches. Throughout the song, the samples sound like loops of thunder, rain and ocean waves upon the shore.