ALBUM REVIEW: Vile Creature, "Cast of Static and Smoke"

By: Daniel Jackson

Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 7/3/2017

Label: Halo of Flies |

Dry Cough Records

On ‘Cast of Static and Smoke’, Vile Creature have given us not just a fantastic piece of music, but a truly immersive experience. It’s an experience I encourage you all to let yourself get lost in it, in hopes that you’ll find the journey as rewarding as I have.

‘Cast of Static and Smoke’ CS//LP//DD track listing:

1. Water, Tinted Gold & Tainted Copper

2. Circuits, Bending & Breaking

3. Forest, Subsists as a Tomb

4. Sky, In Descending Pieces

The Review:

I’ve dreaded the prospect of writing about this album from some time now. Not because it isn’t great (it is), but because I feel so woefully under-qualified to write about it. From a purely musical or performance-centric standpoint; the album is very easy to process. ‘Cast of Static and Smoke’ is a gruelling, caustic doom metal album. Its ringing and corrosive chords and thunderous, colossal drumming speak loudly and clearly on its own. But there’s so much more going on that informs and influences the music, and that’s where I know this review will come up short.

In broad strokes, ‘Cast of Static and Smoke’ is an album about sentient machines undertaking an arduous journey through a decimated wasteland in the hopes of exploring the new freedom given to them after an unlikely twist of fate. Of course, there’s a lot more going on within the story, particularly as it relates to how each machine responds to their new freedom, and in turn how their actions speak to the way we as human beings respond to strife, or how we treat people in oppressed groups. But again, there are many better, smarter people writing about the concept behind the album, and can write about these topics in ways I’m simply not talented enough to manage.

‘Cast of Static and Smoke’ is as fully realized a doom album as you’ll hear this year. There’s an outstanding amount of effort that went into the album’s story, written by KW and Vic themselves and edited by Ed Blair and Jack Solar, and also including narration and an audiobook presentation of the story from Erin Severson of sludge band Former Worlds. Everything from the album cover to the illustrations accenting the short story come courtesy of brilliant artist Stephen Wilson of Unknown Relic. There’s plenty to digest before you even press play.

Then there’s the music, which is as emotionally wrenching and unflinchingly earnest as doom and sludge metal can be. Every downbeat feels like forward momentum, though it’s painfully earned. Each chord or plucked note feels like it was drenched in filth and misery and smashed into the pickups of KW’s guitar. Vic’s commanding performance behind the drum kit devastates, with each strike unloading some extra burden, each beat choice feeling carefully considered and tailored to everything it supports. Even the album’s closing riff, carrying something of a more final and triumphant tune as it fades away; it still bears the damage of the machines’ journey with it. Acrid, layered howls sing us into oblivion like a demonic greek chorus and we’re left to reflect on all that Vile Creature have left us to consider.

On ‘Cast of Static and Smoke’, Vile Creature have given us not just a fantastic piece of music, but a truly immersive experience. It’s an experience I encourage you all to let yourself get lost in it, in hopes that you’ll find the journey as rewarding as I have.

You can pick up a digital or LP copy in North America here. In the UK/Europe, you can find it here.

Band info: Facebook