Villainy are
totally new on my radar but I am to understand that this EP is a follow-up to
the band’s debut album, “Villainy I”, released last year. Anyhoo, onto these 2
tracks...
First
impression is largely positive. Villainy has lots of interesting ideas up its
sleeve even if sometimes it sounds as if the band is trying to put too many eggs
in 1 basket. The mixing gives a lot of breathing space to the bass guitar and
the sound is rough but well-imbued with melody.
The first
track (‘The View from My Ivory Tower’) has Obituary written all over it, having
anguished singing and a very Doomy vibe, even when the going gets fast. All in
all it’s quite an excellent and imaginative slab of crushing Metal.
‘Heir to the
Throne’ has traces of Motörhead with guitar melodies that seem to come out of
the NWOBHM. Again it’s an interesting track that, alas, is marred by some
mediocre riffing.
It’s hard to
form a meaningful opinion of the band based on 2 measly tracks but it’s clear
Villainy are not your average Metal band. And that’s good.
