Album Review: Vexes – Imagine What We Could Destroy /// If Only Given Time (Self-Released)

New Jersey alternative metal band Vexes will release their new double album, Imagine What We Could Destroy /// If Only Given Time, on June 17th, 2022.

There’s a lot to unpack here, this is a double album that is nearly 2 hours long and features 24 tracks in total. An ambitious release that encompasses the last four years of Vexes and deals with a myriad of emotions that have arisen over a very difficult period for humanity.

Unlike a lot of double albums, Imagine What We Could Destroy /// If Only Given Time is not a concept album but that doesn’t mean there isn’t some narrative structure to it. Part of the fun is listening on and discovering them yourself, even if it’s a very daunting task. It’s risky for Vexes too. Modern attention spans are so short, that any release over 35 minutes is pushing it these days.

So, why devote such a large portion of your time to Vexes? The short answer is because they deserve it. The longer answer is because Imagine What We Could Destroy /// If Only Given Time is an electrifying example of a band at a creative high. A band that takes the generic term of ‘alt rock’ and transform what that means, into something else. A band that turns expectations upside down and consistently surprises in the most positive way possible. Imagine What We Could Destroy /// If Only Given Time delivers unexpected moments but more than anything else, it shows that Vexes are a unique prospect in music full stop.

Every track offers up something worth talking about, but we have 24 tracks here and this review has to be concise. So, picking out a handful, it’s the likes of Beyond the Sinking, Gather Your Bones, dryspit. and Twisting of the Points that are highlights of the first half. Examples of the imaginative way in which Vexes approach their music. From dreary melody to passionate rock heaviness to complex but structurally sound detail, anthemic choruses and so much more. The title track, Imagine What We Could Destroy, is also well worth mentioning too as it’s a glorious slice of downbeat atmosphere dominated by a piano.

The second half, it’s the likes of Phantom Pain, The Symptoms of Dying, Energy Vampire(s), Bleak Machine and the title track of the second album that stand out. Which might be the wrong words to use as Vexes really don’t put a foot wrong throughout. Almost two hours or not, Imagine What We Could Destroy /// If Only Given Time really holds the attention in a firm grip. Part of that seem to come from the fact that there’s a consistent dreaminess that makes the albums feel almost unreal at times. Then there are the parts where it sharply brings reality back into focus, snapping you out of any possible malaise and reminding you that this is real. Vexes are real.

Ambitious is the understatement but ambition well and truly realised. If you want to hear a band upping their game, changing what a genre is expected to be, and delivering track after track of exciting, absorbing and thought-provoking music then Imagine What We Could Destroy /// If Only Given Time is a must listen.

Vexes – Imagine What We Could Destroy /// If Only Given Time Full Track Listing:

1. Digital Trust
2. Beyond The Sinking
3. End With Me
4. We Are If We Dare
5. E.O.T.W
6. A Darker Motion
7. Gather Your Bones
8. dryspit.
9. Twisting Of the Points
10. Inexerol
11. Imagine What We Could Destroy
12. Low Choices
13. Phantom Pain
14. The Symptoms of Dying
15. Collapse At Limit
16. Energy Vampire(s)
17. In This Destruction
18. The Dream Disease
19. Bleak Machine
20. At Nothing
21. Invisible Shine
22. Tangents
23. Away Stars
24. If Only Given Time

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