Blood Vulture illustrates a terrifying descent into madness on "Burn For It"
As the corpse-painted host of Brooklyn metal themed comedy show Two Minutes To Late Night, Jordan Olds reverently roasted heavy music and culture as only a true fan can, embracing melodrama, silliness, and nostalgia at a time when the community needed it most during the depths of pandemic lockdown malaise. Stepping out from behind the desk for his latest project, Olds takes center stage as Blood Vulture to unleash the colossally epic gothic metal LP, Die Close.
Die Close is far from parody. Narrated from the perspective of a reclusive immortal, the album is an exquisitely crafted exercise in translating the pains and uncertainties of a solitary existence in the unique way that only metal can convey, expressed from a deeply personal perspective and exorcized with cacophonous intent in the black language of apocalyptic riffs, explosive rhythms, and massive melodies as terrifying and ancient as pagan mythology.
Enlisting the talents of Brian Fair (Shadows Fall), stand out track “Burn For It” rolls and churns with deliberate intent, surging with the inescapable gravity and fatalistic beauty of a collapsed star folding in upon itself, an event horizon of sound and fury writ large on a galactic scale. But the expanse of eternity is not as encompassing as it would seem, as the vampyre is forced to forever endure the flames of judgement for past crimes, the absolution of the abyss drifting just beyond the grasp of outstretched talons yearning for a rest denied.
Hosted by a familiar that recalls the practical campiness of the Crypt Keeper, Blood Vulture is joined by Sleigh Bells’ pop metal empress Alexis Krauss for the latest installment in Die Close’s visual grimoire. Inspired by iconic 80s horror masterpiece Possession, “Burn For It” opens on a visibly distressed Krauss stumbling across a subway platform, fleeing an unknown terror before crossing the threshold on a one-way train ride to hell. The Blood Vulture himself lurks apathetically alongside beneath the unflinching glare of sterile fluorescents, an ominous reminder of death’s omnipotence. With the abruptness of an earthquake “Burn For It” explodes with demonic energy into a vivid illustration of a solitary descent into incomprehensible madness, Krauss whipping as spasming in an interpretive ballet of death, reality and perception fracturing into a living nightmare of gothic terror and psychological destruction.
Die Close is available now on limited vinyl via Pure Noise Records and digitally at Bandcamp. Stream the album on Spotify and follow Blood Vulture on Instagram.
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