The Very End - Turn Off The World (2012)

Last year I encountered a lot of new artist I have never heard about. One of these bands was the very interesting band called The Very End. These germans impressed me on their latest release ("Mercy & Misery") with a solid mix of true heavy metal and a sense of darkness in both the lyrics and music. So my expectations for "Turn Off The World" was fairly high since the band hooked me right away in their last offering. And sure enough, they hooked me again on this album.

"Turn Off The World" is a lot like its predecessor but the band has taken their music one step further. This album with the song "Splinters", a song that switches between the english and german language while thundering on a heavy groove. I did like the music but was there really necessary to mix their native language with english? Would it not be better if they followed through with one language instead of two? Well fortunately, this was the only track with german lyrics (no offense Germany). After that we got "Iron Sky". A song that shows what The Very End is all about. Heavy riffs, a good mix between harsch and clean vocals and an addictive chorus that you will instantly like. And to top it off, we also got a beautiful and great guitar solo. Such a great song.

Is the band slowing down after that starting onslaught? Hell no! Instead, they keep pressing that pedal to the metal. "Infidel" is a simple but effective song that is probably the catchiest in the entire album, "Dreadnaught" is a slower track but does a great job to catch the attention and then we have the amazing and emotional "Maelstorm Calling", probably one of the best songs I have heard all year. Now there is not only great songs in "Turn Off The World". We got two speedbumps in this otherwise smooth and fast road. The first one is "The Black Fix", a song that tries to be as heavy as possible but fails with that goal. The second bump is "Gravity", the only song on this record that uses only harsch vocals. Now I have nothing against Björn Goosses vocal abilities but I like it more when he mixes his styles on the tracks. Just like in "The Black Fix", "Gravity" tries to be really hard but does not succeed with its task. They are not horrible songs but they are clearly the weakest on this album.

The Very End goes from strength to strength. "Turn Off The World" takes the band one step further in their development and one step higher on the heavy metal ladder. This album is very even and strong and if the band keeps it going on this rate I will not be surprised if they get really big in about 5-10 years. I really hope they do 'cause they deserve it with their unique style and power. And by the way, that is one of the coolest cover so far this year.

Songs worthy of recognition: Maelstorm Calling, Iron Sky, Infidel

Rating: 9/10 Splinters