So many moments on this album made me go “WOO!”
We first encountered the Vitoria Gasteiz, Spain screamo/post-hardcore band Vibora when they teamed up with Madrid-based Crossed on a stupendous 2022 split. They’ve now returned with a breathtaking sophomore full-length that hits like truckloads of dynamite strategically carving a masterpiece into a mountainside.
Egin Ez Dugun Guztia — Basque for Everything We Didn’t Do — is at times magnificently heavy, at times majestically pretty, and often both at once. It’s the kind of skramz release that wrangles the genre’s confrontational tendencies into something epic and accessible without sacrificing explosiveness. The desperation of that album title comes through in the vocal performance and all the clamor that surrounds it. Yet even when conveying catastrophic sentiments, ultimately music this powerful can’t help but be life-affirming.
Some people are going to read this as an insult, but I mean it as an endorsement for the indie-rock-brained among us: If you’re the kind of listener who delves deep into the Deafheaven discography but doesn’t really listen to black metal in general, Vibora could be the screamo band for you. They’re certainly doing it for me today.
Stream the full album below.
Egin Ez Dugun Guztia is out now on Zegema Beach. Buy it here.
