EP Review – “Memes” by Mike Vorpal
With Memes,
Mike Vorpal delivers a brooding, genre-bending debut EP that fuses darkwave,
grunge, and cinematic post-rock into a 29-minute journey through the fragmented
psyche of the digital age. Across six tracks, Vorpal explores themes of
paranoia, identity, and existential dread, not with melodrama, but with nuance
and bold sonic choices that reward deep listening.
Opening
track “Planet Earth” immediately sets a disorienting tone, beginning
with underwater-like textures before erupting into sludgy, doom-laden guitar
riffs. The vocals creep in with a grunge melancholy, weaving a mood that’s both
heavy and dreamlike. It’s an introduction that dares the listener to enter
Vorpal’s warped soundscape.
“Manhunter,” perhaps the standout track, is a dense, hypnotic wall of sound. Guitars snarl and shimmer with a restrained violence, recalling early '90s British rock while laced with the sinister beauty of post-rock. The vocals are cold and precise, enhancing the psychological unease that defines the song’s unsettling aura.
On “House
of Capricorn,” Vorpal pivots to an introspective, ballad-like structure.
Reversed guitar effects and tremolos evoke a spectral atmosphere, while the
subdued vocals add a mournful, almost cinematic quality. It’s a track that
feels like staring into a fading memory—soft, eerie, and beautiful.
The fourth
track, “Charlatan,” introduces itself with a vintage film sample before
diving into pure darkwave territory. Synths and MIDI tones provide a
retro-futuristic bedrock for raw, rock-inflected vocals. It’s a bold move, and
one that pays off—melding nostalgia with modern urgency.
“Q” is the EP’s most aggressive
offering, beginning with a massive riff that evokes classic rock heroes like
Deep Purple, but quickly descends into darker, more volatile territory. The
track feels unhinged in the best way, showing that Vorpal can lean into chaos
without losing control.
Finally, “Overboard” closes the EP with bass and drum interplay that lays the groundwork for a bleak, spoken-word delivery. As it progresses, dissonant and noisy textures rise to the forefront, dragging the listener into a sonic abyss before ending in a haunting blur—echoing the EP’s strange beginning.
In Memes,
Mike Vorpal embraces risk and refuses to settle into one genre. The result is a
coherent yet unpredictable EP that challenges, disturbs, and lingers long after
the last note. This is an artist with vision, and we’re eager to see how it
expands on a full-length album.
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