Less than a year after releasing their phenomenally brutal self-titled LP, Vangas have returned with a sonic leap forward of brilliant proportions. While the raw heaviness of their previous work has subsided, this is still gorgeously eviscerating music. The newfound breathing room in the track’s production simply allows the guitars to sound sharper, the bass more driving, and the drums more pummelling than ever before.

Slow Strum is an excellent slab of experimental rock. Its opening breeze of trickling guitars recalls This Heat until they click into a spiralling whirl that resembles a group of helicopter blades whirring in symphony. From there it lurches into a familiar nosie rock groove only now frontman Christian Touchet’s vocals sound less threatening and more desperate. As he echoes out ‘I can’t’ over and over, the tracks sinks into pure desperation.

Yet it’s when the track breaks off from here that Vangas truly claim new territory. The drumming takes on a near motorik quality, as Isaac Bishop and Christ Tidwell join in on saxophone duties to craft a rousing post-rock climax for just a moment before the band gets back to doing what Vangas do best, crushing the listener with their synchronised blasts of drums, guitar, and bass.

Slow Strum suggests the best kind of sonic evolution is on its way from Vangas’s next release. One that doesn’t abandon the sound they’ve honed so well but instead builds on it, offering new dimensions and layers while never sacrificing that core mix of heaviness and groove they took from their no-wave fore-bearers. Slow Strum doesn’t merely cement Vangas as one of the brightest experimental rock acts in America but as a band with what it takes to be one of the very best.

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