Belgian metallic hardcore stalwarts Bear unleash crushing new album, Vanta
Antwerp-based, post-hardcore four-piece BEAR have released their highly anticipated, fifth studio-length album, ‘VANTA’, through Berlin’s Pelagic Records.
Destruction has always been an integral part of the band’s live ethos, from the sonic obliteration of every venue they play to physically smashing their instruments to pieces on stage every night. ‘Vanta’, however, sees the veteran post-hardcore quartet consider the fragility of their own existence and reflect on the origins of the fury that continues to drive them.
Having formed in 2009 when members of Antwerp’s thriving hardcore scene combined forces to start a new band that took no prisoners, BEAR’s line up was completed when the band welcomed British guitarist James Falck into the fold in 2017. However, as BEAR prepared to release their fourth album, ‘Propaganda’, fate dealt the band a cruel hand. Falck received a life-threatening cancer diagnosis and the band dropped everything to support their brother in arms. Just as Falck began to recover, the pandemic reared its ugly head and the BEAR was muzzled yet again.
Having endured so much to make it this far, ‘Vanta’ is the band wearing their scars with pride in order to bring light to some of the darkest chapters in their lives. Exploring the visceral themes established on ‘Propaganda,’ ‘Vanta’ pushes the progressive metal envelope even further with sprawling, complex arrangements and a deeper, more intimate lyrical concept. “Vanta orbits around the mundane horrors that pervade everyday life,” explains Falck, “from watching old friends hang up their instruments for good to considering what might drive someone like you and me to murder.”
Furious from the outset, album opener ‘Atone’ is a barrage of technical riffs, rolling grooves and unrelenting blast beats befitting of BEAR’s return. Whilst tracks like ‘Cisplatin’, ‘Piece’ and ‘Earthgrinder’ also show the band at full force, they bear evidence of the band’s growth, experience and widening influence too. A searing saxophone solo from Vincent Breys (BRZZVLL), guest vocals from Stefan De Graef (Psychonaut) and the pummeling production of Chiaran Verheyden (Hippotraktor) feature alongside atmospheric interludes carved out by the band from experimental house drum breaks and real human screams.
This significant evolution in sound presents ‘Vanta’ as a formidable body of work from four friends forever changed, yet bound together by physical and emotional suffering. Now, having cheated death, the band are unafraid to claw at the places where it hurts the most, to lift themselves up and out of despair into something approaching hope amid so much uncertainty. ‘Vanta’ is proof that even in the face of the bleakest circumstances, there can still be growth. ‘Vanta’ is BEAR taking on a fearsome new form; patient, poised and ready to retaliate.
BEAR on ‘Vanta’:
“‘Vanta’ represents the collective struggle this band has experienced over the past few years. We poured our fury into it accordingly, and we’re extremely proud of the result. This is how we’ve always meant to sound.”
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