VEXES - 'Ancient Geometry' Album Review

Tracklist:

1. Helion

2. Lift

3. Decisions Are Death Here

4. Plasticine

5. No Color (Feat. Mikey Carvajal)

6. Terra

7. Lush

8. Meridian Response

9. Photochrom

10. Ancient Geometry

11. Head Over Heels (Bonus)

12. Shattered Dreams (Bonus)

13. Voices Carry (Bonus)

Some albums transport you to different times--to times when your walls were covered in band posters and teen angst flowed through you like a river after a thunderstorm. But those feelings, no matter how strong the sensation, are usually reserved for albums that belong to those time periods. However, after listening to “Ancient Geometry” by the New Jersey-based band, VEXES, I was hit with such a wave of nostalgia, I had to listen to it twice through before I could even comprehend how to respond to what had happened to me.

As “Ancient Geometry” starts, you’re greeted by, “Helion”. This first track hits hard and fast with the heavy, sludgey guitar work of John Klagholz and Charlie Berezansky. As the track continues at a blistering pace, Berezansky’s vocals cut through and soar above the chaos. Those first few moments of the album are when the nostalgia hit and I was reminded of my teen years, sitting, listening to Deftones albums.

Of course, this is no coincidence. The most noticeable thing about this album, and VEXES as a whole, is the fact that you can hear bits and pieces of influences from multiple sources sprinkled throughout. From the aforementioned Deftones, to sections, whether on purpose or not, sounding like Between The Buried And Me, all the way to the track, “No Color” featuring Mikey Carvajal from Islander, which hits you across the face with the Nu-Metal styling that can’t be denied, it’s evident that VEXES influences span across the board.

Though some may argue hearing all of these influences being so front and center may take away from the music as a whole, but VEXES doesn’t do that with “Ancient Geometry”. They take from multiple sources and create something that not only feels like a cherished memory, but is also something completely new and wholly their own. It is for this reason that this album is, to me, such a well done piece of music.