Vader
Black To The Blind(Remastered)

Vader is traditionally considered a semi-thrash band, but their first truly thrash full-length album was released in 1997 – it was “Black to the Blind”. The previous releases, starting from 1992, were, in my opinion, 100% death metal – dense, monolithic, heavy and gloomy. I think one shouldn’t pay attention to the slight deviation from the canons and bypass the material – the work turned out to be recognizable, “Vader-esque”. Quite possibly the best in the band’s discography (second, in my opinion, only to the frostbitten, but charismatic “De Profundis”). On "Black to the Blind" there is almost no monotonous "sewing machine" of drums, no oppressive death sound - on the contrary, the album is very mobile for death metal, the drummer seems to be trying to hit all the cymbals and bass drums of his kit at the same time - in general, the Poles, like Morbid Angel at the same time, have stopped at the edge of the so-called "technical" metal. The sound is thrashy, but at the same time the disc found a place for the traditional Vader mysticism, whispers and other delights. The riffs are meaningful and add up to catchy melodies, and the solos (still rare) have finally ceased to be atavisms. They are long. They do not just fly apart with a squeal under the power of the rhythm section, but sound, are memorable, successfully fit into the atmosphere ("Black to the Blind" in this sense turned out to be very organic and integral - you will not find extra details on it). In general, it is by no means the fastest album for the band, but it is lively, spontaneous, slightly sloppy. Just like "The Ultimate Incantation", "Sothis" or "De Profundis" it deserves the title of classic, and at the same time - the most complex in the early period.