Hurrah, it’s time to get bonkers from Bergen once more as carrion critters Vulture Industries return with album number five. I admit to having had a long lead time with this and played it to death as soon as I could. Taking a pause and going back to ‘Ghosts Of The Past’ was like meeting up with an old friend once more, as the catchy songs were already well and truly embedded in my bonce, come back to haunt me as it were. Seriously, some of these songs are such earworms you are in danger of suddenly humming along when you least expect to. We are warned however that these numbers are mysterious and lurking in the sort of dark places “where monsters hide under your bed” so were suitably forewarned. Don’t be too concerned about it all being shadowy and sinister though as although we are still in uncertain and ‘Stranger Times’ there’s a definite cheerful enthusiasm spilling out from between the cracks.

Bjørnar and his merry troupe swing into action in style with the bouncy refrain of ‘New Lords Of Light’ and this dizzying dystopian ride has a delirious and infectious care-free jauntiness about it. Swinging and waltzing away the melody gets completely under the skin and the rafter hitting chorus is nothing short of joyous. There’s a Western gun-slinging twang amidst the fervour along with some beaming keyboard motifs and if this one doesn’t get you then you must already have been hung up high and swaying in the breeze on the gibbet. Painting a somewhat subtler tone next number ‘Saturn Devouring His Young’ will no doubt leave you with a picture indelibly scarred on your psyche. There’s fine storytelling at the heart here and our host is always masterful with his prose as the rest of the players ooze out some slightly melancholic chants and licks in the background. Everything drops into a dulcet croon at end before we sprawl into the next page turning chapter ‘This Hell Is Mine’ which could easily be a slice of Nordic noir. This is one of several tracks enthused with the brass accompaniment of Hans Marius Andersen on trumpet and sax and it really smooths over the undulating beat of the number. However, it leads into the clamour and sits up straight on the excellent ‘Deeper.’ This is a track that has been around since 2019 both live and as a single and once heard it is absolutely impossible to shrug off. The Mariachi flavours, ballsy beat and the ‘hrum hrum’ vocal croons which shoot straight between the eyes with no chance to draw your pistol. I can’t help thinking it’s a song Johnny Cash would have been proud of and it’s enough to get his spectre rising from the grave for sure.

Always difficult to categorise there’s a glam kinda beat to ‘Right Here In The Dark’ and when the song kicks you out the bed despite, plea of “Don’t wake me up please,’ the chorus has the frenetic energy of Dexys and Devo. Thematic followers of the group will no doubt notice there will be blood guaranteed and here it is in the form of ‘Not By Blood, But By Words.’ It’s a brooding, slow-burner of a track with whispered verse in places and a prelude to longest track and closer ‘Tyrants Weep Alone’ This comes across like a dulcet folk-tale and is far from a dash to the finish line, in fact with the final two songs it seems as though the mania has been tempered for a more reflective sound. Still it’s all sublime and delicious and even if these tracks have not proved quite as immediate as the rest they have plenty of substance to work with.

Having just hit their 20th anniversary Vulture Industries still have the power to delight as well as occasionally perplex. Their world is a little bit out-there but then again so is the real one and they certainly help through troubled times. Hopefully some live dates on the back of this will appear. If you can’t wait until then, you can catch the first part of their birthday show at the link below.

(8/10 Pete Woods)

https://www.facebook.com/vultureindustries

https://vultureindustries.bandcamp.com/album/ghosts-from-the-past