Vulture - The Guillotine album review

Harking back to a more innocent time – before the technology existed to ascertain that there were 10 other bands called Vulture – this German quartet are the latest gang of bumfluffed youths to hotwire Doc’s DeLorean and jump back to 1985 to crash the thrash underground. Vulture hail from Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia region, which had quite an 80s pedigree in pushing boundaries between speed, thrash, power and heavy metal with loopy, studded-leather conviction: Grave Digger, Blind Guardian, Living Death, Rage, Angel Dust and Holy Moses all burst out of the area 10 years before these kids were born, yet Vulture would fit perfectly onto that hypothetical bill, inheritors of a noble tradition. The ripping harmonies, chainsaw riffs and frantic solos all hit the spot, but L Steeler’s rasping vocals elevate Vulture above the herd, holding a tune while apparently losing his mind.