In preparation for another tour jaunt and festival run this year, Polish premiere death metal exports Vader felt the need to get some fresh material out to the public. As such, Humanihility is another quick hitter of an EP where you’ll ingest three new studio tracks in under ten minutes that prove this quintet in its current incarnation still pummel bodies in a vicious hurricane ready to tear apart anything which dares stand in its path.
“Genocide Designed” opens the proceedings in obliteration mode. The triple guitar assault of Peter, Mauser, and Spider tantalize with a series of speedy thrash/death riffs, often teaming up to elevate the aggression, while the lead breaks contain all the ideal shredding, melodic runs, or whammy bar antics to match the atmosphere present. Conjuring a lot of early Slayer memories, “Rampage” works off another speedy BPM foundation from drummer Michal Andrzejczek – his rather tidy ‘halftime’ transition brief before ramping up to highest gear. The imagery of this song tackles religion, war, and the battles between heaven and hell in succinct, vivid words – Peter wasting no time in his rhythmic word roars. The finale “Unbending” will be the anthem for the Mystic Festival 2025 edition, a mid-tempo effort full of chugging, low-tuned riffs as well as more stellar fills/groove maintenance from bassist Hal and kit minder Michal again. Scott Atkins (ex-Stampin’ Ground) once again sits in the producer role, generating a sound that captures the band in its authentic form as heavy, extreme, yet memorable even when almost going off the rails.
42 years from the start, Vader continually showcase that they’ve lost no momentum in terms of creativity, songwriting, and understanding of where they should go this deep into their career when it comes to their speedy thrash/death metal style. Humanihility may be very short in terms of run time, but it’s still affective in adding more solid material to an already well-established discography that all comers young or old should savor.