I’ll let you know proper now, this factor is an absolute beast. Welcome to Dystopia doesn’t simply stand there and take a look at you from throughout the room; it kicks within the door, punches you within the intestine, and calls for that you just hear. The Veer Union is again, and so they’re pissed. That is the sort of document that’ll make you need to smash your radio and begin a revolution, even in case you don’t have a transparent thought of what that revolution is. However one factor is for certain: The Veer Union is pissed about one thing, and in case you’ve received any sense of self-awareness left, you’ll know precisely what it’s.
We’re speaking about Welcome to Dystopia right here, a hard-hitting assertion on all that’s fallacious with the world, all wrapped up in jagged, gnashing guitars and people guttural screams that make your backbone tingle in a manner that feels prefer it’s supposed to harm. The title alone tells you precisely what’s coming. We stay in a society that’s decaying, rotting from the within out, and these guys aren’t afraid to rub your face in it. In the event you’ve been maintaining with the fixed circus of horrors that’s been parading throughout the information today, this album may hit you tougher than a freight practice operating at full velocity.
That is rock within the twenty first century, an period the place the whole lot feels prefer it’s about to break down into oblivion. However let’s again up for a minute. To essentially perceive what’s occurring right here, we’ve got to have a look at the evolution of rock music and its fiery little cousin, screamo. The roots of rock stretch again to the mid-Twentieth century, when artists like Chuck Berry and Little Richard first received folks to shake their hips and lose their minds to the rhythm. Quick ahead by means of the 60s and 70s, and also you’ve received The Who, Zeppelin, and Bowie—all of them pushing rock to locations it was by no means meant to go, increasing what could possibly be thought-about “music” right into a kind of cultural conflict. By the 90s, grunge arrived to deliver a wave of angst and disillusionment that poured into each crack within the American psyche, and out of that got here the delivery of screamo—a subgenre that took punk’s offended, loud edge and gave it an emotional, typically virtually cathartic depth. Bands like On the Drive-In and early Thursday gave delivery to an entire era of bands that weren’t simply screaming for consideration; they have been screaming for salvation.
And now, right here we’re, with The Veer Union taking all that chaos and frustration and placing it right into a tightly wound bundle that bursts with aggression. From the second the primary observe, “No Excuse,” kicks in, you already know precisely what you’re in for. It’s uncooked, it’s loud, it’s unrelenting. The lyrics are pissed-off, like somebody’s been maintaining rating of all of the methods the system has failed us—and it’s not simply political. There’s an emotional devastation right here that you could’t ignore, a way of being misplaced within the huge equipment of all of it, like attempting to scream in a world the place nobody is listening. “We’re not okay, we’re not alright, we’re drowned by daggers within the mild,” the band roars, and it’s onerous to not really feel each ounce of that.
However what units The Veer Union other than a few of their contemporaries is the best way they steadiness that rage with moments of surprising grace. Positive, they’ll scream and so they’ll wail, however they know when to tug again and provide you with a second to breathe. Take “Shades of Grey,” for instance—a observe that lets its hooks breathe earlier than launching right into a gut-punch of an outro that feels just like the musical equal of being thrown off a cliff and realizing midway down that there’s nonetheless hope. It’s within the steadiness between the aggression and the area between the notes that the true magic of this document exists.
The title observe, “Welcome to Dystopia,” is the centerpiece of the entire rattling factor. Right here, the band leans into the screamo affect absolutely—there’s no pretension, no posturing. It’s simply fury and an entire lot of frustration, wrapped within the sort of visceral, unrelenting scream that makes you are feeling such as you’re drowning. And that’s the factor about this album: it’s an entire emotional expertise. It’s not simply concerning the offended guitars and the shrieking vocals; it’s about how all of it comes collectively to make you are feeling the burden of the world urgent down on you. The lyrics reduce straight to the guts: “Within the coronary heart of the ruins, the place all of it started,” they sing, and it’s just like the band is supplying you with a map to comply with by means of the wasteland of their minds, one bleak step at a time.
“Dig Their Personal Graves” is one other spotlight, a observe that’s as a lot about private rise up as it’s about systemic collapse. It’s about rejecting the lies that the world retains telling you and staring down the wreckage, absolutely conscious that it’s all going to hell—however nonetheless discovering the energy to withstand. It’s not only a tune, it’s a declaration. “Open your eyes to their standard lies,” they shout, and it looks like an awakening.
However let’s not child ourselves: this isn’t a document for the faint of coronary heart. This can be a band that’s all about making noise, making a multitude, and tearing down the partitions that separate the reality from the lies. It’s onerous, it’s offended, it’s stunning in its chaos. In the event you’ve been looking for a soundtrack to the disillusionment of the trendy world, that is it. It’s rock as a weapon. And God is aware of, we may use a couple of extra bands like The Veer Union in today of existential disaster.
In the long run, Welcome to Dystopia isn’t simply an album—it’s a battle cry for anybody who’s nonetheless keen to combat. And in case you’re not prepared to select up the torch, properly, you higher begin operating. As a result of that is one dystopia that’s onerous to flee.
Mindy McCall
Associated
HeartBeat4Kids