Vulture – Dealin’ Death – Album Review

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Dortmund’s favorite slasher-thrashers have returned and like all good horror villains, Vulture are back meaner and deadlier than ever. History has shown us that the third album is always a pivotal moment for up and coming bands. Vulture understands this and has used Dealin’ Death as an opportunity to make moves and carve out their own unique identity in the world of metal. If there’s one word that you can use to describe listening to Vulture, that word would be fun but if you’re looking for their manifesto, that can be found at the end of “Malicious Souls” when Steeler screams out “Death By High Speed Metal!!!!”. Whether this is your first time listening to Vulture or your thousandth, Dealin’ Death is an album that you can ravenously feast upon like a ghoul really letting itself go at the graveyard. 

If we’re talking about theme and presentation, you could almost split Dealin’ Death in half. Vulture have always been the masters of crafting tales about prowlers and evil spirits stalking the fog drenched cities of the old world and if you’re hungry for a new batch of tales, “Count Your Blessings”, “Dealin’ Death” and “Multitudes of Terror” will hit the sweet spot for veteran listeners (and hopefully plenty of first time listeners will also dig “Malicious Souls” and “Flee The Phantom” too). Getting back to how fun listening to Vulture is, it’s not hard at all to get lost in the pure heavy metal mayhem of Dealin’ Death. However if you dig a little deeper into the song’s lyrics you’ll find that they’re dark, violent and actually really fucking scary…..so be warned dear listener.

Complimenting this extra dose of viciousness, Dealin’ Death places an added emphasis on theatrical flair that’s been slithering its way to the foreground of Vulture’s sound over the course of their discography. Not only is the theatricality a natural progression, it’s also spread out over the album in a way that leaves you waiting for more before you go back to getting your face chewed off on the album’s more straightforward ragers. One of Vulture’s biggest strengths has always been that they have a big bag of tricks when it comes to their anthology-style storytelling, so it wouldn’t be too huge of a stretch to think that metal fans looking for something more epic would enjoy “Gorgon”, “Below The Mausoleum” and the decadent  “The Court of Caligula”.

If there’s any track that ties Dealin’ Death together it would be “Star-Crossed City”. Every single metal fan in the world has their own reasons for getting into the genre, but all it takes is one listen of “Star-Crossed City” to hear all we love about metal. High-octane and unapologetic, Vulture have always been masters of cherry picking metal’s best traits and regardless of what label they fall under, “Star-Crossed City” is a grade-A kick ass METAL song. 

Bottom line, Dealin’ Death gives us a Vulture that’s tightened up their already brilliant songwriting and storytelling. In addition to this, is a Vulture that’s beginning to emerge as entertainers and, as mentioned before, this is a natural evolution. Whether or not it’s their songs, music videos or visual presentation, Vulture has something that every metal fan in the world can enjoy, if not appreciate. Adding to the fact that all things considered, Vulture are in the right place at the right time, Dealin’ Death is ultimately a win-win for the listeners as much as it is for the band.

Vulture‘s Dealin’ Death is out now and available through Metal Blade Records.

Dealin’ Death track-listing
1. Danger Is Imminent
2. Malicious Souls
3. Count Your Blessings
4. Gorgon
5. Star-Crossed City
6. Flee the Phantom
7. Below the Mausoleum
8. Dealin’ Death
9. Multitudes of Terror
10. The Court of Caligula