Album Reviews

There is a lot to enjoy on Vultures United’s new album. Literally. ‘I Still Feel Cold’ is a double hitter that comes at you with a whopping 30 tracks in total.

If you are familiar with the band’s older work, you could think that even 30 of their short hardcore punk blasts wouldn’t take too much time out of your day. But well, that is where you’d be wrong. Sure, there still are plenty of more straight-forward hardcore bruisers on disc 1 (titled ‘Memory Loss’) that will never grow to reach the two-minute mark. Think early The Bronx, ‘Rohnert Park’ era Ceremony and Nerve Agents. Songs that leave you feeling kinda uncomfortable and re-energized at the same time.

But then you get to disc 2, ‘Adulthood’, and all of a sudden these guys are leaving their comfort zone, messing around with different sounds and textures and showing entirely new sides of themselves. It’s a ballsy move to say the least. But they manage to pull it off while still making you feel slightly uncomfortable. Opening track ‘I Have This Condition’ is like a party where it feels like a fight can break out at any second, ‘She Never Sleeps’ tries to hypnotize you but fails because it’s too loud and too catchy and ‘Excellent Italian Greyhound’ sounds like Middle Class Rut, which is a compliment no matter which day of the week it is.

The only thing I don’t get is why they felt it was necessary to put the more straight-forward songs on disc 1 and the other stuff on disc 2. It would have made for an even more adventurous and unpredictable thrill ride if they had mixed those songs up. Other than that, kudos to Vultures United for taking a risk and ending up with 30 badass songs.

Track listing:

1. Clones
2. Mind Control
3. Carcinogen
4. Costa Mesa Is Killing Me
5. Tropic Of Youth
6. You're Almost Loved
7. Just Look At The Flowers
8. Pigs Are Creeping
9. Black Teenager
10. It Ain't Gonna Lick Itself
11. Shapeshifter
12. Holograms
13. The Zig-Zag Club
14. Nein Months
15. Weatherman
16. I Have This Condition
17. She Never Sleeps
18. Hüsker Dön't
19. Excellent Italian Greyhound
20. Tiger Lily
21. Wet Nurse
22. Let God Sort Them Out
23. Railhead
24. Indian Giver
25. Floral Print
26. Palm Reader
27. Lost Cross
28. I'd Rather Walk Alone
29. Love Won't Tear Us Apart
30. ...And Now For My Next Trick