“Let me in.”
I feel a lack of explicit expectation going into a record can truly influence how effective it is at captivating your attention. While getting endlessly hyped for a release can be met with emotional extremes: be that of ultimate fulfillment, or, equally, disappointment – I feel the most effective way to digest something is to go in as blind as can be. With music being in the most accessible state it’s ever been in throughout history, however, that is a surprisingly tall order in practice. So, when I booted up ULTRA by Vatican – a band I’ve been peripherally aware of for some time, but never delved into – that notion, of the true blind experience, became a reality for me, when seldom is that a possibility for me.
As the album developed and shifted through its many winding aesthetic-fluid twists and turns upon my first listen, captivated doesn’t even begin to describe how I felt. While the Vein.fm/Code Orange-esque aesthetic to the heavier moments that kick off ULTRA got me involuntarily stank-facing and bobbing my head all over the gaff, it’s when I first heard vocalist Mike Sugars foray into clean vocals on early-album tracks “Reverence” and “Where Heavens Collide” that something really clicked. The latter of the two tracks particularly struck a chord with me: the deep synth work; the larger-than-life production; the moody, anthemic chorus – it all just worked. Then, topping it all off comes one of ULTRA’s heaviest moments, as Sugars pierces through, screaming “by my calloused hands you will be erased”, ushering in a sludgy, pit-opening breakdown that would get any sane person off their feet at once.
Just four tracks in at this point, the album had me. With another ten to go, the prospect of the remaining tracks all living up to that bar of quality was an exciting, if at the time unrealistic thought. Lo and behold, Vatican are clearly not here to fuck around. A fleeting flurry of heavy tracks come and go around the midpoint here, all leaving their unique imprint on the listener’s psyche. The album’s namesake “[ULTRAGOLD]”, followed by consecutive, chaotic sub-two-minute bangers “Decemeta” and “Uncreated Waste” feel like the band’s attempt at creating the least safe environment during a live set. Riff after riff, lyric after lyric and beatdown after beatdown, these songs are an absolute treat, with their brief length and rapid pace contributing to the feeling that no single element of ULTRA outstays its welcome.
Vatican graciously gives the audience a moment to breathe a couple of tracks following this masterful onslaught with “By Your Love”, one of ULTRA’s most directly melodic numbers. While the track’s grooving bass lines and punchy drums drive its softer verses forward with ease, “By Your Love” occasionally trails off into a set of chaotic riffs, replete with harmonics and matching synth flourishes that truly give the track an aesthetic of its own. In keeping with the theme of keeping the audience on their toes, however, we are immediately greeted with both “Miracle of the Moon”, a track whose closing moments sound more akin to an ObZen-era Meshuggah breakdown than the ethereal melodicism on display on “By Your Love”.
Don’t let my utterings of melodicism in any of these tracks fool you, however, as even on ULTRA’s relatively softer cuts, there’s always something waiting around the corner to blindside you and subvert any and all expectations. I believe it’s the dichotomy between these elements, and Vatican’s mastery of each side on an individual basis that truly makes their songwriting so captivating. The idea that, while each element in isolation could be a fantastic song on its own, Vatican aren’t content with simply calling it a day there, and work to create a multifaceted experience through their wide-reaching aesthetics.
Despite how strong I believe this album is from front to back, I think the ULTRA’s two closing tracks left the most significant lasting impression on me. “N.U.M.B.” contains the first of two vocal features from iRis.EXE, whose haunting spoken-word performance toward the tail of the track never fails to give me goosebumps. The way in which she ushers in the track’s barnburner breakdown with the “now let me in.” may potentially stand as the absolute sickest shit I’ve heard all year. I could wax lyrical and use all the colourful language I want to illustrate the point, but that’s the most accurate representation of my feelings. This moment was absolutely made for the live experience, and is sure to give any audience granted Vatican’s presence a conflicting mix of spine-shivering goosebumps, and an animalistic urge to throw hands at the person nearest to you.
ULTRA’s closing track, “Did You Ever Notice I Was Gone?”, contains a more overt feature from iRis, largely comprising of a gorgeously haunting and intensely atmospheric duet between her and Sugars. The way in which the lone piano, followed by iRis’ soft, emotional crooning opens this track lends itself to a sense of vulnerability, that is matched wonderfully by Sugars’ performance as he’s ushered in over a pulsating electronic beat. The vocal interplay between these two across the track is truly something to behold, as each vocalist slips in and out of the main vocal position and backing harmonies/textures. The track’s closing moments drop into a breakdown with a surprising amount of emotional weight behind it, as the atmosphere and increasingly glitched-out electronic hats slowly usher the album to a somber, sudden close. It’s a poignant and strangely gorgeous way to close out an album with this much viscera and fury within its themes and lyrics, and it’s certainly a welcome one.
It’s rare that an album comes along with that unquantifiable factor that defines what is to surely become ‘future classic’ material. A record so insanely good, that you can so easily foretell what is to come for the future of a band. 2022 has been one of the best years for heavy music in a very, very long time, and yet Vatican’s ULTRA stands tall in a league of its own. A record unencumbered by any notion of filler material, ULTRA is at once a fourteen-track goliath of a record; and equally a dense, fleeting moment that passes by with ease each and every time I go back to spin it again. If there is any justice in this world, ULTRA will do for Vatican what the likes of I Let It In And It Took Everything did for Loathe, and I will not stop talking about it until it does.
10/10
ULTRA will be available this Friday, June 17th via UNFD, and you can find pre-orders here. For some further reading, check out our feature piece on iRis.EXE. For all things Vatican, metalcore and music in general, keep it locked on BoolinTunes.