I’ll inform you proper now, this factor is an absolute beast. Welcome to Dystopia doesn’t simply stand there and have a look at you from throughout the room; it kicks within the door, punches you within the intestine, and calls for that you just pay attention. The Veer Union is again, and so they’re pissed. That is the sort of document that’ll make you wish to smash your radio and begin a revolution, even in case you don’t have a transparent concept of what that revolution is. However one factor is definite: The Veer Union is pissed about one thing, and in case you’ve bought any sense of self-awareness left, you’ll know precisely what it’s.
We’re speaking about Welcome to Dystopia right here, a hard-hitting assertion on all that’s flawed with the world, all wrapped up in jagged, gnashing guitars and people guttural screams that make your backbone tingle in a manner that feels prefer it’s supposed to harm. The title alone tells you precisely what’s coming. We reside in a society that’s decaying, rotting from the within out, and these guys aren’t afraid to rub your face in it. Should you’ve been maintaining with the fixed circus of horrors that’s been parading throughout the information nowadays, this album may hit you more durable than a freight practice working at full pace.
That is rock within the twenty first century, an period the place all the pieces feels prefer it’s about to break down into oblivion. However let’s again up for a minute. To actually perceive what’s taking place right here, we have now to have a look at the evolution of rock music and its fiery little cousin, screamo. The roots of rock stretch again to the mid-Twentieth century, when artists like Chuck Berry and Little Richard first bought individuals to shake their hips and lose their minds to the rhythm. Quick ahead by the 60s and 70s, and also you’ve bought The Who, Zeppelin, and Bowie—all of them pushing rock to locations it was by no means meant to go, increasing what may very well be thought-about “music” right into a type of cultural struggle. By the 90s, grunge arrived to carry a wave of angst and disillusionment that poured into each crack within the American psyche, and out of that got here the delivery of screamo—a subgenre that took punk’s offended, loud edge and gave it an emotional, typically nearly cathartic depth. Bands like On the Drive-In and early Thursday gave delivery to an entire technology of bands that weren’t simply screaming for consideration; they had been screaming for salvation.
And now, right here we’re, with The Veer Union taking all that chaos and frustration and placing it right into a tightly wound package deal that bursts with aggression. From the second the primary monitor, “No Excuse,” kicks in, you understand precisely what you’re in for. It’s uncooked, it’s loud, it’s unrelenting. The lyrics are pissed-off, like somebody’s been maintaining rating of all of the methods the system has failed us—and it’s not simply political. There’s an emotional devastation right here you can’t ignore, a way of being misplaced within the huge equipment of all of it, like attempting to scream in a world the place nobody is listening. “We’re not okay, we’re not alright, we’re drowned by daggers within the gentle,” the band roars, and it’s arduous to not really feel each ounce of that.
However what units The Veer Union aside from a few of their contemporaries is the best way they stability that rage with moments of sudden grace. Certain, they’ll scream and so they’ll wail, however they know when to drag again and offer you a second to breathe. Take “Shades of Grey,” for instance—a monitor that lets its hooks breathe earlier than launching right into a gut-punch of an outro that feels just like the musical equal of being thrown off a cliff and realizing midway down that there’s nonetheless hope. It’s within the stability between the aggression and the house between the notes that the true magic of this document exists.
The title monitor, “Welcome to Dystopia,” is the centerpiece of the entire rattling factor. Right here, the band leans into the screamo affect totally—there’s no pretension, no posturing. It’s simply fury and an entire lot of frustration, wrapped within the sort of visceral, unrelenting scream that makes you’re feeling such as you’re drowning. And that’s the factor about this album: it’s an entire emotional expertise. It’s not simply in regards to the offended guitars and the shrieking vocals; it’s about how all of it comes collectively to make you’re feeling the load of the world urgent down on you. The lyrics minimize straight to the guts: “Within the coronary heart of the ruins, the place all of it started,” they sing, and it’s just like the band is providing you with a map to observe by the wasteland of their minds, one bleak step at a time.
“Dig Their Personal Graves” is one other spotlight, a monitor that’s as a lot about private rebel as it’s about systemic collapse. It’s about rejecting the lies that the world retains telling you and staring down the wreckage, totally conscious that it’s all going to hell—however nonetheless discovering the power to withstand. It’s not only a track, it’s a declaration. “Open your eyes to their standard lies,” they shout, and it seems like an awakening.
However let’s not child ourselves: this isn’t a document for the faint of coronary heart. It is a band that’s all about making noise, making a multitude, and tearing down the partitions that separate the reality from the lies. It’s arduous, it’s offended, it’s stunning in its chaos. Should you’ve been trying to find a soundtrack to the disillusionment of the trendy world, that is it. It’s rock as a weapon. And God is aware of, we might use just a few extra bands like The Veer Union in nowadays of existential disaster.
In the long run, Welcome to Dystopia isn’t simply an album—it’s a battle cry for anybody who’s nonetheless prepared to battle. And in case you’re not prepared to select up the torch, properly, you higher begin working. As a result of that is one dystopia that’s arduous to flee.
Mindy McCall
Associated
HeartBeat4Kids