Disney owns Star Wars. This means they also own Darth Vader. The crass commercialization of this character is now just another shade of the grey goop of nostalgia that serves a single master. A single hegemonic overlord of culture in the United States. Darth Vader, like so many things that you once cherished in your childhood, is now just one cog in an elaborate scheme to convert every dollar you spend to escape the hell scape of your reality into the marginal gain of a single conglomerate. But you know who Disney doesn’t own? Polish thrashers Vader, that’s who. Vader are their own dude and they’ve answered to no one fucking else since 1983. Sure, they’ve changed their sound over the years to incorporate more death metal flourishes, and yeah it's brought them closer in quality and feel to bands in the vein of Decapitated and Nile, but they did this of their own free will, not because they thought it would move cereal box unites or goad parents into buying tickets to an amusement park (in fact, if your parents are anything like mine, they probably instinctively hate Vader's guts).
Solitude in Madness is Vader's sixteenth studio LP and it doesn’t deviate in style or quality from any of their previous releases over the past decade. And that fact is 100% fucking excellent because Vader flat-out fucking rule! “Into Oblivion” is a crushing death-thrash crusade that pushes the band’s sound into the epic red with ferocious guitars and pummeling percussion reminiscent of Kreator. “Sanctification Denied” combines Death styled OSDM with cutting Megadeth guitars and choruses. Later the band flexes their speed-metal muscles on “Emptiness” which harkens back to the style of their demos, while “And Satan Wept” gives their sound a ‘90s spin by embracing a head-banging Pantera groove. No one is sicker, and no one cuts through the crap quicker than Vader.
