Californian band Fate formed back in 2003, when they were still in school and, having signed with Metal Blade they have produced a brutal American death metal album here in the shape of Vultures. 

After the short instrumental of ‘Apostasn’ they move into gear with ‘Psychopathic Diary’, with it’s growls and screams, as well as some hardcore gang vocals, all over the heavy twin guitars thus giving a big wall of sound.  ‘Your Creed Is Greed’ sees the band slow things down a bit to good effect, but the more melodic moments on ‘Battle Grounds Beneath My Feet’ go that bit further giving one of the highpoints of the album. 

While the songs do move from being full on energetic bouts to the slower more downtrodden moments, in general they don't actually vary that much and this proves to be one of the major downsides to Vultures; the similarities mean that many of the songs are indistinguishable from each other and this is helped even less by the fact that the vocals themselves also don't display that much variety either. 

Actually Fate manage to save the best moment on Vultures to the last. Not only is closing song ‘Ruins Of Necropolis’ the longest, clocking in at just over five minutes (twice as long as many of the other songs), but it also shows the band can create some good music.  Some gang vocals return and, along with some good guitar work and breakdown moments, this helps to round the album off on a relative high. 

On the whole Vultures is a bit on the one dimensional side, and not to my personal taste. Fate however are a young band and, with time on their side, may yet be able to hone their craft for future releases. 

Let us know your views on Vultures

Track Listing

Apostasn
Psychopathic Diary
Your Creed Is Greed
Battle Grounds Beneath My Feet
Harrowing Infidelity
Vultures
Of Riddance And Innocence
Call Me The Apocalypse
Decapitate Delilah
Ruins Of Necropolis

Line Up

Justin Krahn - Vocals
Kyle Fishman - Guitar
Brice Vuson - Guitar
Devin Durrett - Bass
Jacob Durrett – Drums