Album Review: Vmbra – Polylith
Reviewed by Dan Barnes
Manchester Progressives, Vmbra (pronounced Umbra) have been making serious waves since their inception in 2021, the 2022 release of debut EP, RESVRGAM and the solidification of the band as a four-piece. Since that time, the band have released a sophomore EP, DELAPSVS, in 2024 and had a wow of a year in 2025 with appearances at RADAR festival in their hometown, and winning the Manchester heat of Metal 2 the Masses, leading to a spectacular slot on Bloodstock’s New Blood Stage, where they captivated hearts and bamboozled minds with their performance.
This month sees the release of Vmbra’s full-length debut record, Polylith, where the band get the chance to show they can capture the emotional depth of the EPs and the explosive energy of their live performances into forty-seven minutes.
Early tasters have dripped out in the shape of A Man Walks In and Wyrm, both of which demonstrate a slightly different aspect of Vmbra. …Walks In opens Polylith with a host of punchy beats, enticing guitars played over a robust low end, and with Ai Sánchez’s hypnotic vocals, it all adds to create an atmosphere that permeates throughout the album. Slow building, with seamless combinations of the musical harshness and the lushly melodic, A Man Walks In feels like the fatalistic consideration of individual existence that it is.
Wyrm continues those ideas, extending the exotic combinations and the Eastern vibes to offer a different perspective on the band’s aesthetic. Short musical moment, Reside on High is something of a firebreak, leading into the spastic rhythms and angular riffs of Coldest Heights. They give way, through a moment of electronics, to a simple drumbeat and a fragile guitar, all held together by a pulsing bass. The combinations enmesh perfectly and the deep resonance at the mid-section gives a warning that all is not bright and breezy.
Pariah feels thematically linked to A Man Walks In, even thought it begins with a swing and a piano, the distance between the unmoving bottom end and the delicate vocal reflects those themes admirably. The largely acoustic Fooled Me Once finds Ai giving a masterclass in how vocals can act as an instrument in one of Polylith’s most emotive moments. You Are the Sun starts like you’ve somehow switched to Zeppelin’s debut and Good Times, Bad Times opening section. Even more bizarre is, although this features the most aggressive moments from Ai across the whole record, the pre-choruses could have been lifted out of a Take That track; how do I know such things?… How indeed!
For me, good as Vmbra have been so far on Polylith, it’s the two, seven-minute-plus compositions that really show the band’s chops. Dark Sheperd and You Leader use every arrow in their not inconsiderable quiver, to expose the two areas it is generally not advised to discuss: Politics and Religion. Both tracks have a conversational style, with the domineering vocal standing as the status quo, arguing for more control because it’s good for us; Ai represents the individual, the soul whose beauty comes from the autonomy of free-thought and expression without interference.
Vmbra’s musical palette is well-used in this exploration, combining hard-edge, dissonant riffs of the oppressive and the lush, lilting lines of the unbridled. It’s Urban vs Rural, Will vs Grace and – at the risk of being controversial – Male vs Female. You Leader, in particular has the feeling of being musical theatre and is a fine way for the band to close out their debut.
I think we can safely conclude Vmbra have shown beyond any reasonable doubt that they are capable of producing a full-length record which match their talents for EPs and in a live environment. I was at Manchester’s Metal 2 the Masses final a couple of weeks ago and they continued to wow, showing both Wyrm and A Man Walks In are killer live tracks too. If there is any justice in this world, Vmbra would be on the fast train to the big-time, stat. But, knowing how the industry treats talent, let’s just hope that isn’t the Train to Busan.
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