Fast, hard-hitting and brutally honest in its entirety, Sydney’s VICES have dropped their third LP Now That I Have Seen I Am Responsible.
The album is candid in its core, angry, loud and unapologetically frank. Comprised of thirteen tracks, the LP tackles the threads of life that make us human; love, betrayal, religion, politics… each song more emotionally charged than the next.
Kicking off with ‘Species’, there is no warming up. There is no time to prepare yourself for the emotional and cathartic journey the album is about to take you on so you better buckle up.
Now That I Have Seen I Am Responsible is almost like a diary entry – it’s personal, it’s fuelled and you almost shy away from the intimacy John McAleer screams out into the open, though it’s an intensity you can’t help but resonate with.
Songs like ‘Hell’ challenges the adverse effects of religion, a display of faith lost to the injustice of our world. ‘Treachery’ and ‘Suffocate’ is a confronting story of a young girl who was taken advantage of by someone she thought she could trust, “You pretended to comfort her / She needed someone to love her / Tears washed against her scars in your arms”.
Now That I Have Seen I Am Responsible is an aggressive collection of brutally honest words, rigorous riffs and breakdowns that are delivered with a sense of urgency.
Produced by Jay Maas (Defeater, Bane, Verse, Counterparts), this is the first time the band have elected to work with a professional producer and the result is that of clarity. The tracks on the LP are quite short in length but are each there for their own purpose. No unnecessary fillers needed, Now That I Have Seen I Am Responsible cuts right through the bullshit and hits straight to the point.
The LP is out now via Resist Records.
