5 Albums I Want To Be Buried With #7: Vanitas!

As their third EP in three years is looming large on the horizon in “Journey to the Sun” we took some time out of the busy schedule of Birmingham Cinematic DJent pioneers Vanitas for this weeks edition of “5 Albums I Want To Be Buried With“. The five piece have been sword fighting in Medieval times, riding horses and all sorts in their Dark North Media directed music videos of late so we knew their choices would be… a little different to most. The aforementioned EP drops on 15th August with a release show the following day at The Flapper in Birmingham, where they will be joined by Dacara, Away With The Seas and Tooth & Dagger. As if that wasn’t enough to get excited about they’ll also have a free retro game station from Royal Jester Games between bands as well as some other shenanigans.

Foreword: “As a band we all have eclectic tastes, so when Metal Noise reached out to us to ask what 5 albums Vanitas wants to be buried with, we thought what better way to showcase that than giving each member 1 album to pick each, a truly daunting task… So, here are our 5 albums Vanitas want to be buried with!”

Jade (vocals): “III: Select Difficulty” by Periphery

“I feel like my choice is slightly predictable… It’s no secret to everyone that I’m a Periphery fangirl and Spencer Sotelo is one of my top vocal inspirations, which maybe is evident in some of Vanitas’s vocal lines. However, the reason I picked Periphery 3 specifically is because this was the album that first made me truly fall in love with Prog-Metal at the age of 17, and I looped it for weeks on end. I listened to plenty of metalcore, more old school heavy metal and other heavy genres prior to this age, and I had dipped my toes into the progressive world previously with bands like Tool, Toto and Incubus as a younger child but it was Periphery that made me go ‘I want to make music like this!’. The interplay of heavy as fuck djenty riffs and screams like in ‘Motormouth’ and then beautiful clean riffs with transcendent vocal melodies in songs like ‘The Way the News Goes’- all the way to anthemic moments like the outro of ‘Lune’. Every song is packed with intensity and emotion, more is more, and that’s exactly what I go for in the music I love to listen to and love to write and sing too- I have so many special personal memories wrapped up in this album too, so I couldn’t not pick it!”

Elijah (guitars): “The Shape of Colour” by Intervals

“Aaron Marshall is one of my favourite guitarists and this album definitely shows off his musicianship in all its glory. The album gives off such a head bobbing and summery vibe which I can listen to all day!”

Mitch (guitars): “Metropolis Pt 2: Scenes from a Memory” by Dream Theater

“To me, it is the absolute perfect album, full of everything I could ever want – it’s filled with funky moments, dramatic moments, epic moments, borderline djent moments, emotional apexes and ridiculous guitar hero level shred. If anyone was to ever listen to only one DT album, it should be this one – and just one song? Fatal Tragedy, sick chug patterns, insane musician ship, queen like drama for days and incredible hooks. It’s no secret me and Jade are partners – I find this album as incredible as her, they’re on par whether she likes it or not hehe.”

Jon (bass): “Ziltoid the Omniscient” by Devin Townsend

“For being buried with an album, I’m going to go with Ziltoid the omniscient. It was my first Devin Townsend album and the first time I heard music that I would want to play. It is in many ways the album that made me want to play and write music live, and it’s the first album I taught myself on guitar. I would want to be buried with it because it is the first album that really made me, me.”

Jackson (drums): “City of Evil” by Avenged Sevenfold

“City Of Evil by Avenged Sevenfold; my favourite album of all time with absolutely no skips (so much so that I scoured the internet for weeks for a red transparent vinyl of it). The Rev’s (my favourite drummer) best drumming is on this album and it’s probably my biggest influence in my playing out of everything I listen to”

You can catch Vanitas live as follows over the next few months:

10/08 – Lincoln, Tattoo Convention
16/08 – Birmingham, The Flapper (EP release show)
24/08 – Cambridge, The Six Six Bar
29/08 – Bridgewater, The Cobblestones
30/08 – Derby, Refuge Metal Fest
31/08 – London, LVLS
19/10 – Manchester, Rebellion, Slammer Fest