Our neighbor, Tyrone, a massive, prison jacked, tattooed, man from Overtown, Miami is the neighbor that borders our western wall of our apartment. Tyrone, like most if not all citizens of the extremely downtrodden and dangerous neighborhood of Overtown listens to rap music. He listens to it loud. So loud in fact, that the walls shake at 3AM, the cats wake up and cannot fall back asleep, and sleeping becomes a chore, not a luxury. Tyrone also likes to throw parties on the worst possible days. Some of us who were smart enough to party for Halloween on Saturday, reserving our Sundays for recovery, relaxation, and football, lost a lot of that recovery time, thanks to Tyrone.

Evan borders a wall with him, and had no answer to his superior bass system. He called the cops on four separate occasions, before they finally responded. Tyrone threatened us claiming “He doesn’t want the cops running around his room.” This clearly explains that he either has a past record or smokes a lot of pot (which we all do, so it’s not like I’m frowning on him for it.)

Much like Adam West’s Batman had an answer for every challenge, I had an answer for Tyrone. This classic, Litany by Polish Death Metal legends Vader was all encompassing and audibly omniscient. The consistent barrage of bass drum and brutality, ripping through the building like a Patriot missile in an Iraqi landmark, silenced Tyrone for good. What makes Litany worthy of a classic after only a decade of existence you ask? Read further, my friends. For if not sheer aggression can answer the call to classic status, then by looking deeper we can all find the niche in Litany that makes it perfect for each one of us.

Roaring out of the gate like a rhinoceros at a greyhound track, Wings opens up Litany with an obvious declaration of their intent to hammer the listener with outstanding instrumentation and staggeringly powerful production. It does not matter what you are using, whether that be anything from $10 headphones all the way to a top notch system, you will notice the bass drum. I do not know why they chose to jack up the bass drum like Schwarzenegger’s biceps after a set on the preacher bench, but Hell, it works. The drums pretty much make the album. Now, this is not to say that everything else around the drums is not worthy of elevation to classic instrumentation, but I feel that the booming drums is what makes this album memorable. Ask anyone what they remember most the first time they listened to Litany and they’ll echo my thoughts.

A true highlight of this masterpiece is Xeper. Xeper is a more groove oriented track much like What Colour is your Blood was to The Art of War. If not for Wings I would venture as far as saying this is my favorite song on the album. It has an extraordinary structure. Intermittent and punishing guitar riffs thrown over a consistently powerful drum beat, breaks into brief harmonics that scream like a banshee before the vocals provide the icing on the cake. The vocals are always very audible, and teeter between Thrash and Death Metal sometimes. I refuse to attempt to spell any of the names of the band members. Polish is the only language that can lump 6 consonants in a row and call it a surname, so we’ll just call them by their instrument. Nevertheless, the vocalist is always clear, and is a true stalwart of Vader, and all of Polish Metal for that matter. Who knows if the likes of Behemoth would reach their level of success without Vader gaining recognition for Poland as a bastion of Heavy Metal.

I blast this album in my car for every purpose. I blast it to have fun. I blast it when I am angry. I blast it when I am happy. I blast it because it is a maximum intensity adrenaline rush that only a few selective albums can accomplish. Much like scoring a try in rugby, or landing a big hit, that maniacal feeling of excitement only Litany can inject into your veins is something that makes Litany a timeless classic and Vader a band that time will never forget.