Review: Vower - Apricity - The Progressive Subway

Style: Alternative metal, progressive metal, post-hardcore (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Deftones, Loathe, Arcane Roots, Black Peaks, Moon Tooth, Greg Puciato
Country: UK
Release date: 8 July 2024

As I outlined in my review of El Moono, the British proggy post-hardcore scene was one with which I was once abundantly familiar. But after the wonderful yet short-lived group Black Peaks broke up (shortly after the equally brilliant Arcane Roots) something in me gave up on that regional niche—surely we weren’t ever going to see quality like that again. Plus I was listening to a lot of Haken and The Ocean around then, getting deeper into truly progressive metal. El Moono took me back down those well-trodden halls of nostalgia, and I found a handful of groups to keep an eye on, not least among them: Vower.

Comprised of two members of the late great Black Peaks, guitarist Joe Gosney and drummer Liam Kearley, two members of metal cover band FrogLeap—guitarist Rabea Massaad, also of Toska and a prominent YouTube guitarist and mixing engineer, and bassist Rory McLean—and vocalist Josh McKeown of the now-defunct Palm Reader, it’s safe to say that that a lot of the modern British alternative metal scene is to be found among Vower. Debut EP Apricity is a short but sweet primer for what we hope will be the next great band in this genre.

Naturally, the ghost of Black Peaks looms over Vower’s sound in the interplay between riffs and drumming, as well as on the solo on “Eyes of a Nihilist”, which weaponises Gosney’s Mastodon inspired licking. It’s easy to imagine Will Gardner taking up some of those vocals, but hardly necessary—McKeown’s tone, slightly nasal, is similar to … of El Moono, both in turn redolent slightly of Greg Puciato, but with more of the somewhat emotional and overwrought delivery of John Carbone (Moon Tooth) and a similar tendency to modulate a lot. Meanwhile, the Deftones-esque dichotomy between thick riffs and shoegazey languor, and deft balance between the anthemic and the contemplative feels more redolent of Gosney and Kearley’s departed Black Peaks, but ever sure of its own spin on proceedings.

“Shroud” opens with punch and invective, with tense split chords and gluts of thicker riffing, plus some calmer post-rock style sections that ladle on more of that tension. Everything’s a touch dissonant, the riff runs hitting uncomfortable notes, before the explosive chorus comes in which McKeown implores “take it all away, make it all okay”. “In the Wake of Failure” is more sombre, as the title suggests, more mid-tempo, the riffs more contemplative, McKeown letting more emotion into his delivery, and sounding spent in the track’s melancholic mid-section, until the song sojourns into a far heavier outro, with unhinged growls. “False Rituals” has a slightly more anthemic quality, the stomp of Kearley’s drumming underpinning McKeown’s soaring cleans. Moving into an bouncy mid-section groove straight out of the Arcane Roots playbook. “Eyes of a Nihilist” ends the record with a lamentory tone, and a trippy main riff that, when coupled with the solo, veers into Mastodon-esque territory.

Reviewing EPs is always difficult, like reviewing a director’s showreel, or an actor’s headshots: “here’s what we’re capable of”—Hell yeah, now go make an album. Something about the shortness of the medium makes it difficult to make an artistic statement, and EPs invariably feel like a collection of songs rather than a sonically coherent work. Vower showcase exactly the level of talent and compositional acumen you would expect, and Apricity is a short, sharp statement of intent. It skirts at the edges of genericness at times, playing things a little safe, but mostly, I just want more from Vower; I want them to push their own boundaries and I want to see how they develop their sound on a full album.

You’re going to hear a lot about Vower. They’re already supporting Karnivool for a couple of UK tour dates, as well as appearing at England’s two biggest prog festivals, Radar Festival and ArcTanGent. And when you listen to Apricity, it’s hardly surprising. The pedigree here is strong, bringing a lot of the best of the British post-hardcore scene together and concentrating their powers, and I’m very excited to hear a full release from them.

Recommended tracks: In the Wake of Failure, Eyes of a Nihilist
You may also like: El Moono, Palm Reader, Giant Walker
Final verdict: 7.5/10