I remember how VHOL was presented to me via drunken scene chatter – the word was that Aesop and John from LUDICRA were teaming up with Sigrid (HAMMERS OF MISFORTUNE) and Mike (YOB) and they were going to make a DBeat band….and with that lineup, it was all set to be a DBeat band that would blow the doors off of the whole damn world. Even though the first record delivered as advertised, it was still apparent that they weren’t going to be able contain themselves…and by 2013’s Deeper Than Sky the train has fully left the station. Imagine a combination of the above elements with a healthy nod towards DISFEAR and early MAIDEN and you get the general idea, but suffice to say that no one sounded like VHOL then and no one has sounded like them since. I listened a lot when it came out, but Aesop gifted me this tape a few weeks back and it’s been on re-regular rotation since…I am not bummed.
