Album Review: Bombus – Vulture Culture (Century Media Records)

Formed in 2009 by Fredrik ‘Feffe’ Berglund and Mattias ‘Matte’ Jacobsson, Bombus began as a gnarly two-piece, with Feffe on drums and Matte on guitar, churning out riffs and punk rock clatter inspired by the likes of the Melvins, The Jesus Lizard and Poison Idea. Progress is a tricky thing to stop, however, and since those early days, Bombus have evolved into one of the most explosive and charismatic hard rock bands on the planet.

From 2010’s rampaging self-titled debut album to the extravagant riff excursions of 2013’s The Poet & The Parrot, the Swedes have never conformed to current trends or relied on one easy formula: instead, through undeniable songwriting power and ferocious levels of creative energy, they have powered forward, earning themselves a formidable reputation as a wildly entertaining live band along the way.

We’ve been having a good time! grins Feffe. We’ve been touring and doing shows and been fortunate to play with other bands that we really like. We opened up for Black Sabbath at the Friends Arena in Stockholm, which was wild! We’ve played with Gojira, Baroness and toured with Graveyard. But more important than all that, we’ve gotten us a fifth band member, Simon Solomon. He’s a good-looking, all-in-all great guy and a complete guitar virtuoso so it’s good to have him on-board. Right now we’re in a pretty good place.

Three years of kamikaze touring and good old fashioned hard work later, the band are back to give 2019 a jolting dose of heavy metal with brand new fourth album, Vulture Culture. Newly expanded to a five-man line-up – featuring Feffe and Matte on vocals and guitars, drummer Peter Asp, bassist Ola Henriksson and new recruit, third guitarist Simon Solomon – Bombus have never sounded more ready to roll.

I think there is really no other band that sounds like us, says Feffe. But still we sound like a hundred other bands! If you listen to Vulture Culture you can spot the obvious connection to Black Sabbath and Motörhead but if you listen again you’ll hear traces of Queen, The Prodigy, Tragedy, Pink Floyd, The Partisans, Pantera, ABBA… and it all fits in there! We have never fitted into any particular genre or box and maybe that has made us fall between chairs at times, but if you ask me, that’s what makes us special.

Vulture Culture was released on November 15th 2019.

Having built a strong and rabid fan base, it’s now time to Bombus to really start spreading their wings. To start reaching that little bit further and start making those oblivious to them aware of just who they are.

A Ladder – Not A Shovel is a hell of a way to do this too. As we get an expansive and energetic heavy metal opener. The twang of the riffs battling the old-school guitar solo while the melodic latter part goes to war with the punchy percussion and gruff vocals.

(You Are All Just) Human Beings follows that with exciting rhythm that has just the touch of post about it. The guitars are solid gold here and the desperate edge the vocals have at the end will send chills down spines. Mama might make a few people think of Mastodon, at least at the start. Although it certainly develops into something Bombus shaped after a short while. It really gets under the skin and can rightfully be called an anthem.

However that’s small fry to the wonderful grandness of It’s All Over. The melody at the start, sweet and reflective before giving way to an utterly incredible track that has some powerful lyrics. One of many highlights on Vulture Culture. Another being the energy upping In the Shadows, the faster rhythm working well after such a emotionally affecting track as the previous one.

The brilliance of Vulture Culture continues strongly into We Lost A Lot of Blood Today, the title track and Two Wolves and One Sheep. Each track a bombastic as anything that came previously, although it has to be said that the title track is probably the catchiest out of all of them. The groove of the riffs is butt-shaking stuff.

All good things must come to an end though and Bombus close out their album of the year contender with one big last hurrah. Feeling is Believing…a title that isn’t quite apt enough. Perhaps it should be ‘Hearing is Believing’. As many will believe that Bombus have released an incredible album here once they hear it.

Bombus – Vulture Culture Full Track Listing:

1. A Ladder – Not A Shovel
2. (You Are All Just) Human Beings
3. Mama
4. It’s All Over
5. In the Shadows
6. We Lost A Lot of Blood Today
7. Vulture Culture
8. Two Wolves and One Sheep
9. Feeling is Believing

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