Style: Progressive Metal, Death Metal (Mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: old Opeth, Mikael Akerfeldt, Sweden
Country: Iceland
Release date: 15 March 2024
In the garden of proggy delights, Opeth are one of the sweetest fruits and their influence on the genre is legion. Down in the underground, beneath the mire, if you will, lurk the Piah Mater’s and Marlugubre’s, harvesting at the Akerfeldtian style. Recently we reviewed The Moor, clearly named for the Opeth track of that title, and there’s a band called Demon of the Fall too. It’s the burden of any influential band to spawn a million imitators, but no other band has spawned as many actually good heirs apparent as Opeth have. Just as we can all supposedly trace our DNA back Genghis Khan, so many a band in the underground can trace their heritage back to Opeth.
Certainly, there’s more than a little Akerfeldt in Vögel’s DNA. Hot on the heels of their 2022 debut album comes Kallið, a substantial follow-up EP from this Icelandic foursome. After the portentous piano of “Intro”, “Söngur Raddanna” bursts into blackened life with some very neat lead guitar. When the vocals hit, it’s like Mikael Akerfeldt reincarnated; the throaty harshes that dominate Kallið are enormous, a bit too redolent of Akerfeldt himself, but harshes that thick and portentous are a rare thing so I’m not complaining. The lyrics revolve around themes of mental health, but are sung in Icelandic so I can’t attest to whether they’re any good or not—if a depressed Icelander wants to tell us, feel free.
However, Vögel are too deeply steeped in the Opethian sound: the main riff of the title track is a textbook Blackwater Park/Ghost Reveries era groove. You could argue that given it’s been sixteen years since Opeth’s last death metal album, it really doesn’t matter. Even when Vögel attempt to set themselves apart as with the languid chords of “Flæðisker” or the post metal intro and jazzy solo section on “Móðir Jörð” songs like “Burden” still spring to mind. “Söngur Raddanna” feels like the most original track with its blackened intensity and post-metal mid-section with reverberating Sólstafirian chords and a gnarly bass groove, but it’s still easy to imagine Opeth doing all of these things themselves. Those incredible growls, the chord choices, the guitar tone, the Phrygian scales… Vögel aren’t copying Opeth, but they can’t avoid sounding like Opeth.
And it’s a shame, because sounding like Opeth takes talent, and Vögel have talent in spades. Their tracks are punchier than the average Opeth fare, avoiding the Akerfeldtian tendency to drive riffs into the ground, there are those blackened and post-metal influences seeping in, and the compositions flow really nicely. Kallið is a pleasure to listen to: the piano break and dreamy solo duels on the title track are a highlight, as is the metronomic synth underlying about half of “Móðir Jörð”. But even if I find myself enjoying their work, at the end of the day, it has to be acknowledged—you might not have seen this twist coming because I telegraphed it very subtly, but: Vögel sound far too much like Opeth.
If you’re skilled enough to play like Opeth, you’re skilled enough to evolve like Opeth. No, I don’t want Vögel to write their equivalent of Sorceress—for the love of god, please don’t write a Sorceress—what I mean is that this level of proficiency means that the band could easily apply themselves to the task of developing their own style, using the Opethian toolkit just as bands like Wills Dissolve and Wilderun have, to make something perhaps not completely original, but fresh enough to call themselves apostles in triumph.
Recommended tracks: Söngur Raddanna, Móðir Jörð, Kallið
You may also like: Wills Dissolve, Piah Mater, Wilderun, The Moor, Marlugubre, Descend, Hands of Despair, Pressure Points, Obsidian Tide, The Reticent, Luna’s Call, Eternal Storm, Loneshore, Stormhaven, An Isolated Mind… told ya the progressive underground likes Opeth!
Final verdict: 7/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page
Label: Independent
Vögel is:
– Arnar Ástvaldsson (bass, vocals)
– Arnar Snævar Eggertsson (drums)
– Finnur Þór Helgason (guitars)
– Sindri Snær Thorlacius (guitars, vocals)
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