Vagora - Nurture / Our Summer Is Everyones Fall

One date, one band, two albums! Yes, you read it right. On november 15th 2011 Vagora released two records: the full-length Nurture and the ep Our Summer is Everyones Fall. And I have to say: they rock! Okay, Vagora was kinda love at the second listen and I had to play their music twice before it hit me. But in the meantime they’re regular guests in my playlist and made me a fan. This band out of East Providence Rhode Island was founded in 2006 and already got loyal fans with their debut “Agoraphobic“ - not only in the U.S. but also a small base in Europe. The two newest cds should help Vagora to gain even more followers. Especially as they are not only a snap-shot, but show the development of the band. While “Nurture” kinda represents the past of the band, Our Summer… points to the direction in which Vagora is going. 

Most songs on Nurture were written in the same time as the “Agoraphobic”-tracks. So it’s a perfect follower of the Vagora-debut. A cool thing with the album is that it was mainly recorded for the fans, since it’s all the early music that they’ve been playing live for years. This is straight punkrock in the style of Bad Religion and Green Day mixed with some alternative rock. You’ll find music with different tempi and some nice guitar-soli on this second longplayer. The vocals of Cephas Raven fit perfect and go from energy-screams to melodic singing – supported by T.B.s backvocals and some horrorpunkish whaooos and ohoohoos. That makes your feet wanna dance throughout the whole release. Even if the lyrics are mostly about serious subjects. The album kicks in with Seventeen Thompson Was So Excited To See You and gives you a first taste of the energy of the album. The next eleven songs alternate fast, powerful tracks and melodic tunes – none longer than 2:32 minutes. One exception is the gothrock-ballad Some/ Most, a slower but catchy AFI-kinda sound with 3:21 minutes. Another slower tune is Dirty Girl. The guitar on this one gives the track a touch of 70s/80s metal. Another one I wanna point out is The Reaction: singalong whaooo’s and lines like “that’s why I’m stabbing her neck, she’s breaking my heart” just makes this one of my favorites right now.

With Our Summer… Vagora shows the potential of the band without losing their roots. Even if there’re fewer songs than on Nurture, the music varies more. The basic is still punkrock, but the arrangements grew compared to the full-length. For example there’s a song in horrorpunk-style (My Bane), that’s actually written and sung by T.B. Monstrosity. Besides of that Vagora also has a nice ballad with strings (K.R.Y.) on the ep that’s 5:10 minutes and with that it’s the longest Vagora song so far. She Must Be Dead is more rock than punk but absolutely fits with the rest of the stuff on Our Summer... Especially as I think I’ve heard some Guns’n’Roses-influences on the ep. So all in all the record paints a picture of Vagoras future….and I really dig what that picture shows.

Okay, the band doesn’t invent a new genre but they present two solid releases filled with great songs. Each album make a cool punkrock record on it’s own, but together they have passion, attitude and heartbreaking emotions. One of the bad things about the two albums though is that none of the cds contains lyrics. That makes it kinda hard to singalong with the music from the beginning. And I’d preferred a double-album, but I guess the band had their reasons to split it in two records. Some people might expect me to make a comparison with Blitzkid since T.B. plays in both bands, but I won’t. Even if you can hear some similarities from time to time, Vagora is definitely a band on its own. Besides, the band aint horrorpunk (but horror-influenced punk). I’m pretty sure they’ll find their way into the ears and hearts of some graveyard greasers anyhow…”just taste the blood”! 

8 from 10 Tombstones

Tracklist: (Lenght: ca. 28 minutes)

Seventeen Thompson Was So Excited To See You
Special Devil
Blue Burn
The Reaction
Some/Most
Haiet
Goldie
Amy& Catlin
Dirty Girl
Lindsey
Princess
Helladonna

Tracklist: (Lenght: ca. 23 minutes)

The Blind Tiger's Eye/Ginger's Gone
My Bane
They Never Encouraged
Glitter Addict
When The Lights Go Down
K.R.Y.
She Must Be Dead

Review by P.G.