Last week, Swiss trio Ventura released “Superheld,” their latest release that will undoubtedly appeal to those listeners looking for an exciting, versatile, innovative, fresh, unique take on modern rock music. Arriving as their fifth full-length effort, this material carries clever songwriting, perfect arrangements, and exceptional musicianship, all the qualities that garnered these experienced musicians for years. Lyrically, the band explores different sentiments, moods, situations, and circumstances by implementing wisely assembled, storytelling lyricism that complements their musicianship to the max, making “Superheld” a highly relatable material that will immediately resonate with the crowd. Sonically, Ventura combines several rock subgenres in order to illustrate such luxuriant sonic imagery. Perhaps modern alternative rock comes to mind first, but you’ll notice how some of the finest properties borrowed from noise rock post-hardcore, post-rock, grunge, and indie rock found their way into this sonic equation. They skilfully incorporated these additional elements into the core of these tracks, so their presence mostly depends on the current mood and ambiance yet they’re vividly hearable in the mix without spoiling the initial sonic direction. While “Superheld” usually explores modern rock aesthetics, you’ll also realize how particular songs or segments pay homage to nineties and noughties underground music. These levitations between contemporary and nostalgic ambiances suit Ventura properly, as they navigate different emotions and sonic maneuvers like pros. Whether you’re looking for a material that will immediately transport you into a completely different realm with its ultimately progressive instrumentations or some tunes that vividly evoke some of the best years for rock music, Ventura has everything it takes to satisfy your cravings.
What makes “Superheld” so incredible is a perfect balance between power and calmness, aggression and mellowness, in-your-face and otherworldly approach to even the tiniest details and nuances. It’s more than obvious that Ventura thought about everything while writing, composing, arranging, recording, and producing their latest material, but they somehow managed to infuse something that many artists and bands lack these days. Instead of going with the flow and delivering another generic, bland, repetitious, over-the-top album like many acts do nowadays, they decided for an entirely different approach, one that bands rarely go for the sake of being popularized and recognized on the scene. While “Superheld” carries many qualities of commercial alternative and indie rock music, Ventura still aims for an experimental approach where their progressive sonic and rhythmic acrobatics meet fascinating vocal performances. Their music is simultaneously easy-listening and intricate, catchy yet challenging, radio-friendly yet heavily drenched into the sole depths of the underground scene. These highly skilled musicians achieved a balance between all the qualities that represent a one-of-a-kind band, and they certainly sound unique from scratch to finish. From lyrical and sonic aesthetics to clever songwriting, perfect arrangements, and sound quality that meets all the trends in modern production, Ventura has created a masterpiece you’ll gladly repeat over and over again.
To be quite honest, it’s difficult to pinpoint a singular instrument in this sonic equation when they all stand out in their brilliance. Naturally, the guitars reign supreme throughout the entire album, with all those marvelous, raw, gritty, abrasive, aggressive riffs, much calmer regular and arpeggiated chord progressions, harmonies, melodies, themes, and other sonic delicacies. Each strum over the string feels like a direct punch in the face, but a refreshing one. Yet, there’s something calm, soothing, relaxing, ethereal, and otherwordly about all these guitar works that makes even those heavy riffs so appealing to the ears. Venturas unquestionably stacked all these guitar layers without overshadowing the remainder of the instrumentations, and despite being heavily drenched in distortion, you’ll detect each strum over the strings, detail, nuance, and accentuation. The vocal harmonies are calm yet commanding, elevating everything these folks wanted to achieve to new heights. The balance between low, mid, and high notes contributes emotional depth and complexity to an already intricate song structure. These vocal harmonies expertly emphasize all these segments and instrumentations, so a pleasant listening experience is more than guaranteed. In the meantime, the bass guitar balances between groovy, warm-sounding notes and those heavily distorted basslines. In both cases, this important instrument helps guitars to shine even more. It provides warmness, deepness, heftiness, and clearness with such precision and finesse. Of course, everything would be pointless without an exceptional drumming performance, an entire barrage of cleverly assembled, expertly performed, well-accentuated, robust, dynamic beats, breaks, fills, and other percussive acrobatics. These incredible rhythmic patterns keep everything in line while dictating groove and pace. As you can see, Ventura thought about everything while working on these tracks, but I am positively sure you’ll stumble upon more details along the way once you deep dive into this magnificent album.
“Superheld” is the finest piece of sonic art and probably one of the best albums you’ll stumble upon this year. The entire band poured heart and soul while writing, composing, arranging, recording, and producing it, and their tremendous experience, knowledge, creativity, skills, and talent shine through each segment of every song. Therefore, you should immediately place “Superheld” on your music radar, because these experienced musicians deserve your utmost attention. The album is available digitally and on vinyl/CD via Vitesse Records. Don’t miss it!
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