Vengeful is a band that has more or less bitch-slapped me out of nowhere and one of those rare instances where it pays off to look at the useless bulletins bands put up on their MySpace accounts. Yes, that’s right: I learned about Vengeful through a random MySpace bulletin, possibly one of the greatest sins ever. But you know what? As retarded as that is, it was worth it.

Atheretic (an excellent technical death metal act in its own right) had posted a list of its members’ side projects and Vengeful was on there. "Strange," I thought. "I have never heard of these guys at all. Might as well explore." Upon searching for Vengeful’s music I was side-swiped with some excellent material and one of the best surprise debuts of 2007.

Vengeful is a joint venture between members of Atheretic, Torn Within, and for a few songs the drummer of Despised Icon. The sound on Vengeful’s debut Karma is a mix of later-era Immolation with light Gorguts-style technicality and an equal mix of both bands’ vocal styles. Vocally, the dual vocal approach takes a deep growl with Ross Dolan’s sense of energy and mixes it with a hollowed screeching howl not unlike Luc Lemay’s trademark throat. The riffing is very influenced by Unholy Cult-era Immolation’s catchier focus (especially in the Bob Vigna-styled solos) and epic songs ("Counterfeit Deity" would fit right in with Immolation’s "Of Martyrs and Men" and Unholy Cult’s title track). When Vengeful gets technical, there’s a very light hint of Gorguts in there, complete with a crushing sense of brutality, but not anywhere near the bizarre sound of Obscura.

The only gripe I have with Karma is a section of "Counterfeit Deity" where the music breaks down momentarily and alternates between the screeching howl and riffs. It simply sounds a bit misplaced and underwhelming in comparison to the rest of the song’s excellent quality.

The small gripe aside, Vengeful’s Karma is an excellent debut and an easy recommendation for anyone that is a fan of death metal. I’ve been enjoying this nearly as much as the last Neuraxis record! Maybe this MySpace thing really isn’t that bad…

Wait, no. I just got another Pantera-clone agro-metal friend invite. MySpace still sucks. God dammit. Nevertheless, Vengeful kicks ass.

Written By: Necro-tron