SPPEARS

Vampillia's debut EP, "Sppears" is a brief, intense blast of the band's particular breed of avant- garde, a veritable collage of classical, punk, metal (mostly of the black and death varieties, focusing heavily on atmosphere and texture), and mathy post-rock. The main tracks of note are "Heyoah", a minute-long punk-flavored barrage of varied vocals and frenetic percussion, "Negame", a song that flexes the band's more classical chops while featuring quasi-operatic alto vocals in a manner that would seem quite familiar to fans of bands like Diablo Swing Orchestra, and "Mersum", a complete change of pace by virtue of the fact that it goes completely minimalist, relying on a single lyrical female vocalist and an acoustic guitar.

Overall, the EP does a great job of serving as a brief introduction to the band's musical directions and stylings, but little more. And "brief" being the operative word - at just over seventeen minutes in length, and the final four tracks being instrumentals (three of them, the "- naked" tracks, are simply instrumentals of prior songs on the album), you could blink and miss a good chunk of the album. For that reason, it's hard to recommend it beyond being a sampler for those new to the band's style, obvious quality aside.

2.5 stars, rounded up to 3. Well worth the listen, despite its lack of staying power in one's musical rotation.