When I first heard Vexed through a request on one of my livestreams, I was immediately drawn to their bending riffs and the captivating range from their vocalist, Megan Targett. She’s able to switch from deadly lows to beautiful, soulful clean vocals that carry you seamlessly through instrumental transitions. I went into Culling Culture hoping to find more of that sound, and I was not disappointed.
The intro track, “Ignorant”, starts off with an ominous ambient introduction which quickly shifts to a heavier tone when the instrumentals kick in. There isn’t too much to dissect here but the use of the sirens along and synth kind of gave you a look into the unexpected mood you will find in this album. While you do get those wonderful, low riffs you also experience some things you may not expect. Although there are no lyrics, this track lays down what you should expect from both an instrumental and tonal perspective and words were not a necessity for that. It is a short but sweet introduction to the album which leads straight into my current favorite Vexed track, Hideous.
There is plenty to love with “Hideous”, whether it be another flawless vocal delivery from Megan, or the bouncy and groovy riffs littered throughout the track. This song is a perfect example of the contrast that Megan’s blend of clean and unclean vocals can provide on a track. They do a great job of alternating between the brutality in the brutal parts to the more uplifting sound you get with the clean vocals. All this sets the stage for the brutal breakdown that will have your head banging involuntarily. Both the vocal call out of “You and your fucking big mouth” and the instrumental delivery that follow are perfection in my book. This was a great track to release as a single; it certainly put additional attention on this release for first-time listeners.
“Fake” opens with an eerie, ambient guitar lead that launches you straight into another rhythmic riff which pairs perfectly with the aggressive vocals and lyrics. This track continues to drive home the angry feel you are introduced to in the first two tracks. This song showcases another side of Megan’s vocal ability where she showcases an almost rap-like vocal delivery. While seeming to take a more melodic approach than the previous tracks, the mix of groovy and heavy is maintained just enough to make it flow perfectly with the album while introducing new elements.
The fourth track “Epiphany” is another song that we hear open up with a calm and soothing melody before exploding into an energetic riff. I really enjoy the calm feel to the intros because they make the subsequent relentless instrumentals hit that much harder. When the clean vocals kick in on this track, they let the bass shine in place of another hard hitting riff, a welcome change that sounded fantastic. I’d like to hear more from Vexed where they experiment with more bass-driven parts like this. The breakdown came on unexpectedly but did not feel out of place, though it felt as if it could’ve been a bit longer. Overall, this is probably my least favorite of the tracks but still a strong song on its own. I think the clean vocals are very hit and miss for me with Vexed overall, specifically because of the style and not the quality, which played into this a lot. That isn’t to say I don’t enjoy them, some parts just don’t grab me as much as they could but all of that is made up for with most other aspects like production, uncleans, use of synths, brutal drops, need I go on?
“Misery” opens up with another powerful riff, some wonderful sounding synth and a powerful performance from drummer Willem Mason-Geraghty. The vocals unsurprisingly come in with a vengeance, though you do experience the signature clean vocal sound that we’ve grown to associate with Vexed. There’s something in the way that she carries her cleans that makes them stand out very much. Admittedly, at first I wasn’t really sure of them. After some more time with their existing tracks I’ve grown to enjoy them much more, though I do prefer the uncleans. Synth is used perfectly in this track to give just enough atmosphere to the existing aggression that you can feel in the track.
“Narcissist” dives straight in with a brutal opening from all angles, switching up the song structure by opening with the chorus. The down-tuned intensity from the guitar paves way for the aggressive vocal delivery, both seeming to build off of each other while being perfectly in sync. There’s something about the partially spoken, partially sung pre-breakdowns that make the choppy riffs hit just a bit harder. The guitar tapping in the pre-chorus and outro adds a huge layer of intensity to this song. The mixture of aggressive, low vocals and choppy experimental riffs helped to land this track as my second favorite of the album.
The seventh track on the album “Weaponize” takes the sweeping approach yet again before hitting us with another beautifully crushing riff that carries the song. The longer intro did seem to make the rest of the track feel a bit rushed, but not enough to take away from the song overall. I really enjoyed the performance from the drumming here, the song breaks into a more ambient section towards the middle. The drumming really steals the show before the song picks back up for the ending breakdown which is wrapped in the same ambience you heard throughout the rest of the track. Overall, this was another solid song that kept the pace of the album moving.
“Purity” opens up with a beautiful lead guitar that has almost an entirely different feel from the rest of the strings on the album up to this point. It settles into something a bit more familiar but I was really drawn to the way this one opened up. This varied guitar style can be heard throughout the remainder of the song along with the sound that Vexed has claimed for themselves in the mix of other songs on this album. Powerful clean vocals glide over the smooth leads to give this song a bit more of a catchy feel than the others on the album. Towards the end of the song it slows down for some clean vocals and a beautiful mixture of drums and bass that explodes into an instrumental climax lead by synth that has vocal-like qualities. This piece of the song really drove it to the next level for me and made it another stand out track.
“Drift” is a nice palate cleanser in the midst of the heaviness the rest of the album brings. Sitting at just over a minute, it’s a purely instrumental track that glides you into the next. The electronic elements blend well with a calm sounding guitar lead. That same style of guitar can be found as the next track, “Aurora” starts up. The chilling vocals are a perfect fit for the groovy, atmospheric instrumentals that kick this song off. There’s a clear transition as the instrumentals explode from a calm, bassy groove to a far bouncier rhythm at around the minute and a half mark. The feel of the bass and the cleans at the beginning of the song really drew me in, but I felt like that wasn’t something that remained consistent throughout the song so I did not end up enjoying it as much as the intro made me hope I would. I didn’t dislike the rest of the song, but it did feel a bit forgettable for me compared to the intro.
The eleventh and final track, “Lazarus”, lures you in with another taste of smooth clean vocals before dropping you straight into another stank-face-inducing riff. The subtle use of synth in both this track and the album overall really appeals to me. The pattern on the unclean vocals perfectly match up with the changes in the riff, yet another detail that brings the track up another level for me. When the clean vocals kicked in, it did seem a bit too reminiscent of clean vocals from the rest of the album. Some of the clean portions sounded a little bit too similar to me. Past that, the “OH!” dropping into that bendy riff was exactly what I needed from this song. I enjoyed the riff-filled outro but thought that as a closer, it could have used another vocal flex. I enjoyed the harmonizing vocals on my way out of the album to contrast all of the heavy that I had just experienced.
Overall, Vexed has made an impressive debut with plenty of grooving riffs, explosive percussion, stellar vocal performance and my personal favorite, excellent bass tone! Tracks like “Hideous” and “Fake” display the range and talent that Megan has, shifting between different styles and adding to the texture the band has managed to capture overall on this record. It’s one thing that certainly makes me want to see Vexed live as soon as I get the opportunity. Given this is their debut release, this band has bright things ahead for their future if they keep this up.
9/10