As 2022 turned to 2023, doubtless there were any number of resolutions made to turn over a new leaf, start new ways, and try new things. Now that it is several weeks into the new year, many of those resolutions will have faded away, some through circumstance, some through lack of will, and some because of the realisation that just because something is new, doesn’t make it better, and the familiar can be pretty damn good. That final line is something that can be aptly used to describe Vibrant and their new album ‘Trying To Survive’.
Hailing from Poland, a land probably not that well known for their stoner metal scene, the band do not try and explore strange and bizarre territory, rather they lay down a solid slab of rock. ‘Dead Eyes’ sets the scene with a thumping rhythm section driving the song along with a neck wrecking beat, segueing nicely into the stomp of ‘Blackjack’, a number that practically reeks of sweaty denim and spilt beer as it evokes the atmosphere of a packed rock bar. Title track ‘Trying To Survive’ continues the party with a mix of “boot on the monitor” guitar heroics playing against foot stamping riffs to keep a happy crowd moving, the pit kept swirling with the succeeding chug of ‘This Night’.
After its opening sprint ‘The Last Man On Earth’ slows the pace, but trust me, this is no ballad, and those who are inclined to have their long hair moving will find plenty to give their neck a workout should they wish, whilst those who just enjoy their rock hard will enjoy the sort of guitar work that can trace its roots back in time through Thin Lizzy and beyond. This respite is short lived as the hook laden ‘Salute’ reels in the listener and insists they raise a fist and punch the air. The lean and trim twenty eight minutes of the album is closed out by ‘Słodka Pieśń’, (‘Sweet Song’, thank you online translation) a song delivered in their native tongue with a punkish vitriol that is anything but ‘Sweet’.
As I said at the start, Vibrant are not avant garde experimentalists, rather workmanlike hard rockers who sound like they grew up with the likes of The Almighty playing on constant rotation, and that’s no bad thing. Even an old Thotch-head like me who enjoys long swims in Topographic Oceans can crave the pleasures of unpretentious music that is trying to do no more than entertain, and that is what ‘Trying To Survive’ delivers.
(7.5/10 Spenny)
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