{"id":7335,"date":"2015-09-28T13:09:05","date_gmt":"2015-09-28T13:09:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-vvega-leaving-lyra-ep\/"},"modified":"2015-09-28T13:09:05","modified_gmt":"2015-09-28T13:09:05","slug":"album-review-vvega-leaving-lyra-ep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-vvega-leaving-lyra-ep\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: V\/Vega – Leaving Lyra EP"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\u2018Leaving Lyra\u2019<\/em> is the second EP from Bedfordshire\u2019s V\/Vega<\/strong> and offers a sound that\u2019s so well refined and balanced, it\u2019s hard to believe that just over a year ago, this quartet hadn\u2019t yet played a gig together. Heavy riffs and screams blend with ambient, atmospheric guitars, accentuated by melodic vocals and harmonies, to produce a formula reminiscent of Northlane\u2019s most recent effort \u2018Node\u2019<\/i>. Where V\/Vega<\/strong>\u2019s technical, progressive metal formula is particularly refreshing though is the attention given to dynamics and tempo changes within songs, which provides excellent variation and further depth to their sound.<\/p>\n

Opening track \u2018Lyra\u2019<\/em> flows through mid-tempo rhythms and bass-heavy verses to aggressive bursts of heavy riffs, which guides the song through a journey of emotions and moods. \u2018Wanderer\u2019s\u2019<\/em> multi-faceted vocal approach brings Periphery\u2019s Spencer Stoleto to mind, with a range of screams from deep guttural bellows to higher-pitched, throaty shouts, before switching seamlessly to brilliantly-delivered clean vocals that bring the hooks and melodies.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The instrumentation is complex enough to demonstrate skill but is tastefully restrained to prevent any individual performance overwhelming the songs as a whole. The rhythm section\u2019s intricate patterns and varied time signatures tie perfectly to guitars that switch from heavy riffs to ambient lead lines, underpinned by an ever-prominent bass tone. The way each individual performance is balanced against the band\u2019s sound as a whole demonstrates an excellent level of maturity in the songwriting, which at this early stage in their career gives them huge potential for the future.<\/p>\n

The technical metal genre can be guilty of producing stagnant records that focus too much on musical complexity and not enough on ensuring the core songs themselves are interesting and memorable. \u2019Leaving Lyra\u2019<\/em> avoids this trap by using dynamic shifts in tempo to deliver interesting song structures and variations in mood. As a four track EP it\u2019s too early to determine whether this would hold true over a full-length record, but there\u2019s enough quality on show here to make you want to find out.<\/p>\n

4\/5<\/p>\n

\u2019Leaving Lyra\u2019<\/em> by V\/Vega<\/strong> is released on October 2nd via Crooked Noise Records<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

V\/Vega<\/strong> links: Facebook<\/a>|Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n

Words by Mark Johnson (@Testwood<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018Leaving Lyra\u2019 is the second EP from Bedfordshire\u2019s V\/Vega and offers a sound that\u2019s so well refined and balanced, it\u2019s hard to believe that just over a year ago, this quartet hadn\u2019t yet played a gig together. Heavy riffs and screams blend with ambient, atmospheric guitars, accentuated by melodic vocals and harmonies, to produce a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14880,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[514,4678,4680,4679],"class_list":["post-7335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","tag-crooked-noise-records","tag-leaving-lyra","tag-leaving-lyra-ep","tag-v-vega"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAlbum Review: V\/Vega - Leaving Lyra EP - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u2018Leaving Lyra\u2019 is the second EP from Bedfordshire\u2019s V\/Vega and offers a sound that\u2019s so well refined and balanced, it\u2019s hard to believe that just over a\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Album Review: V\/Vega - 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