It never fails to amaze me the amount of bands out there that I had never heard of, not through ignorance I may add, but because of the sheer volume available.  Also, probably, because I am not a lover of certain genre’s of music and as such don’t bend over backwards to follow the trends. Metalcore, Death Metal and Thrash being among the genres I don’t really like.  I think my omnipotent God (also known as the webmaster – “all hail the webmaster”) knows this and as such takes great pleasure in sending me stuff that I would ordinarily chuck in the bin.  Damm him to the gates of hell and back for making me listen to this.

“Fear My Thoughts” have been around the proverbial block and back since forming in 1998, and after looking at their bio it would seem that they are probably one of the hardest working groups as well.  They currently have 4 full length releases, EP’s and split releases to their name, along with touring their butts off all over Europe.  The line up is Mathias on vocals, Markus and Patrick on guitars, Bartosz on Bass and Norman on drum.  Also putting in guest appearances on “Vulcanis” were Schmier from “Destruction” providing vocals and bass on “Accelerate Or Die” and Kim Oelsen of “Anubis Gate” who wrote and played all the keyboard parts. 

“Vulcanis” starts off with the tracks “Accompanied By Death” and “Blankness” which are extreme Metalcore songs and as such are full of the usual ingredients, fast tempo, awesome double drumming, heavy guitar riffs that are in perfect synchronicity with the drums, all topped by vocals that have an over exuberance of growling and screaming vocals during the verses but slip into a clean and light form for the chorus.  (HUMBLE PIE TIME – I’m starting to enjoy this).  The third track, “Culture of Fear” slows things down a little and starts off with a really melodic guitar intro which draws the rest of the group slowly into its harmonic arms, then gradually builds in tempo up to a heavier beat, but still retains its melodic overtones. 

They follow this formula throughout this release to achieve a good balance between light and dark, pushing out what can only be classed as a mix of hard and heavy metalcore and melodic death metal with, in places, some progressive nuances thrown in for good measure. 

One track that I do want to draw particular note to is the title track “Vulcanis”.  This track is a 5 minutes and 15 seconds long instrumental epic that can only be classed as a masterpiece of writing and musicianship.  It is melodic metal at its very best and not something you would expect from a band with the pedigree like “Fear My Thoughts”, but it just goes to show what they are capable of and I feel that it deserves to be brought to a bigger audience. 

“Fear My Thoughts” are competing in a genre that is getting oversaturated at the moment, but they already have an impressive resume which keeps their name to the forefront and if they keep pushing out impressive fistfuls of metal like the gem that is “Vulcanis”, they will be assuring that their name stays at the forefront for a few more years to come. 

“Vulcanis” is an impressive release that has a lot of variety within its tracks and goes a long way to show that you can push out a great metalcore release without having to copy others within the genre.  This will be a welcome addition to any metalcore fans CD collection, and may well go a long way to move “Fear My Thoughts” up to the next level.

Let us know your views on 'Vulcanis'

Track List

Accompanied by death
Blankness
Culture of fear
Accelerate or die
Stamp of credence
Survival scars
Vulcanus
Soul consumer
Both blood
Gates to nowhere
Lost in black
Wasteland  

 Line Up

Mathias Ockl - Vocals
Markus Ruf - Guitars
Patrick Hagmann - Guitars
Bartosz Wojciechowski - Bass
Norman Lohnard - Drums