VULTURES VENGEANCE
“Dust Age”
Album Review by Iron Mathew

8/10

Vultures Vengeance are a heavy metal band from Italy formed in 2009 releasing two albums to date – ‘The Knightlore’ (2019) and ‘Dust Age’ (2025).

Featuring eight songs across forty two fast and furious minutes, Italian metallers Vultures Vengeance stand proudly right in the heart of the heavy metal genre, hitting listeners, fans and followers with a barrage of ground shuddering metal – the title song ‘Dust Age’ slow burning outta the gate, proceeding to accelerate furiously after forty seconds or so, the band galloping forth with intense purpose and drive! The head bang ability here is off the charts, ‘Dust Age’ (the song) a rampant romp of all out heavy metal to attract every single metalhead around the world, ‘Queen Of The Last Light’ a more mid tempo hustle and bustle affair that keeps the album rooted at the heavier end of the heavy metal genre! There’s also a little anthemic metal on show as well, Vultures Vengeance offering a myriad of metal styles across the albums first two songs.

The galloping pace of earlier makes a return as ‘Those Who Sold The World’ follows the traditional metal path, the band planting one “foot on the monitor” to adopt the iconic pose of heavy metal, the Italian outfit changing through the gears – both down and up – to keep listeners guessing which direction the band are gonna turn in next! Right into the melodic heavy metal zone that’s where, ‘Reign Of Severance’ emanating an old school metal and rock feel, the kinda feel that was prevalent during the eighties heavy metal and hard rock evolution when basically there was just one classification, “heavy metal” – compared to the modern day where there’s over sixty! How times have changed eh! And not always for the better either – thankfully the likes of Vultures Vengeance are around to remind us what heavy metal should sound like, ‘City Of A Thousand Blades’ bringing a more majestic blend of metal to the fore. Epic too, the band marching forth with shoulders back and head held high as the ground beneath their feet shudders and shakes nearby buildings to their foundations.

As I mentioned earlier, the band are camped at the heavier end of the heavy metal genre, not venturing too far across metal territory to keep ‘Dust Age’ (the album) heavy and intense, ‘The Exiled’ entering the fray with the glorious guitar tone so synonymous with the legendary NWOBHM – the band a little meaner than heard previously. Not menacing mean, just harder and more robust, ‘The Exiled’ maintaining the tight grip the band has on everyone’s attentions – attentions which aren’t gonna be let go anytime soon as the album roars on with the abrasive ‘The Foul Mighty Temple Of Men’. Not thrash metal abrasive, just rougher and tougher than every other song heard up to this point, Vultures Vengeance pressing the pedal to the metal to gallop hard and increase the intensity of the head bang ability! The album is brought to a close with ‘It Holds’, another slow burner that builds a crescendo of anticipation for a frantic explosion into life – which doesn’t actually come! After the two minute mark, yes ‘It Holds’ does come to life, but in a more hustle, bustle and muscular fashion than the explosive one I was expecting, Vultures Vengeance delivering one hell of a varied finale.

Overall, a hard hitting, bold and blunt array of heavy metal, ‘Dust Age’ is a thunder fuelled and infectious, head bang-able album.

TRACKLIST

Dust Age
Queen Of The Last Light
Those Who Sold The World
Reign Of Severance
City Of A Thousand Blades
The Exiled
The Foul Mighty Temple Of Men
It Holds

https://vulturesvengeance.bandcamp.com/music

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