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7.0
- Band:
Vader - Duration: 00:09:16
- Available from: 30/05/2025
- Label:
-
Nuclear blast
Streaming not yet available
Three guitars, three songs, three different signatures. This is how Vader decides to present “Humanihility”, an EP that looks more like a test bench than a simple appetizer. Not a bombastic declaration of intent, but an settlement towards something new, or rather, of renewed. The occasion is the reappearance of Mauser-a key figure in the artistic path of the group that goes from the late nineties to the early two thousand-recently returned to officially part of the line-up. The Polish panzer is therefore a quintet with three guitarists – in addition to Mauser, we obviously find the frontman Peter and the trusted Spider – and this new sound geometry is immediately reflected in these three tracks recorded at the British Grindstone Studio with Scott Atkins in the control room.
The opening is entrusted precisely to Mauser with “Genocide Designed”, and a few seconds are enough to understand that the guitarist still has the wrist of sound that helped to define the vaders in his time. The tight riffing and the downtown and martial mood bring directly to “Litany”, of which the twenty -fifth anniversary occurs this year. It is a dip in the past that avoids the trap of sterile nostalgia: the piece sounds inspired and lets emerge a will of reconnection rather than replica, as if the quintet had decided to find its own voice returning to one of its mother languages.
The next “Rampage”, composed of Peter, is the most concise piece of the lot, but not for this secondary. It is a dry song, with a few well calibrated elements and a mood modeled on that of the opener. The impression is that this lively trace of reflection compared to the first, as an appendix that strengthens the identity of the EP rather than expanding its boundaries.
He closes the very short “unbending” work, made up of Spider, which introduces a different and interesting dynamic. Here the group takes some more risk, focusing on an agile midtempo reminiscent of some of the less conventional intuitions of works such as “Revelations” or “The Beast”. The main riff is very catchy and the song seems sewn for a live execution. Not surprisingly, it was chosen as the official anthem of the Mystic Festival 2025: a recognition that certifies its nature of potential hit both in the vader universe and in a more generalist listeners circuit.
On balance, “Humanihility” works because it avoids two traps: sterile nostalgia and forced modernization. In this case, the Vaders show that you can look back without stumbling, and that a small format can contain a strong idea. The return of Mauser and the unprecedented three guitars arrangement open up to new possibilities and a greater variety of structures and inspirations, but it is the internal alchemy that bodes well. If this is the ground on which the next album will be born, it may not only be another piece in the band's discography, but a new start, silently bold.
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
