Vardis are one of those bands who got swept up in the sands of time but who really should have come out among the lords of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal scene. On the plus side - they have crawled out of the grave and after thirty years they have released a new record as good as anything they released back in their critically vaunted heyday. Red Eye is twelve tracks of Steve Zodiac leading his dudes out once more to do what they do best - play hard boogieing chaotically moving heavy metal music.
The guitar playing is lyrical and tight, the vocals often garbled in the best way and the rhythm section thuds along with a dedication to Steppenwolf's beloved heavy metal thunder. That being said - Vardis do have a tendency to end up meandering and some of the songs feel a bit too long. That being said - if any band has a right to periodically meander it's these dudes and the angular riffing on a song like Paranoia Strikes more than makes up for it. So while yeah, there are a few faults on Red Eye a lot of that just comes from not having put a record out for thirty years and I believe that with their next release the band is going to take the formulas presented here to a whole new level of greatness.
As for now, Vardis are back on the map and they deserve the praise they have gotten. This is a band who infuse NWOBHM formulas with much more traditional rock and roll ideas to get a sound that will get your body shaking and mind aching. If you want something that goes a little outside of the beaten track and is more than just aging dudes trying to relive their glory days then the new Vardis is for you. This is a band who have cultivated a distinct place in the world of rock and roll and are back with a vengeance.
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