Not many bands in any subgenre can claim to have been both thoroughly consistent and influential for the best part of three decades, but then Vader have always exhibited an imperious air.
Remarkably, Tibi Et Igni upholds the ferocious standards the Poles have been setting in recent times, marrying the all-out attack of 2011’s Welcome To The Morbid Reich with the pounding, true metal grandeur of 2009’s Necropolis and hurling some new and subtly daring nods to more modern extremity into the mix along the way.
Songs as vicious and unrelenting as Where Angels Weep and Armada On Fire can only serve to emphasise just how reliably overpowering Vader have become, but it is the deftly executed detours into fresh territory that make their 10th studio album just a grimly joyous affair.
Hexenkessel is the finest moment, as visceral blasting and ominous melodies collide with rhythmic angularity redolent of Link-era Gojira before Piotr Wiwczarek unleashes a sublime solo worthy of Andy LaRocque at his late 80s zenith. It’s hard to conceive what more one could demand from a death metal album.
