Vallenfyre - A Fragile King
Here we have a debut LP full of surprises. First off, this supergroup of sorts features members of Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride. Secondly, this supergroup features members of Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride… and it’s not Doom. And finally this supergroup featuring members of Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride that is not Doom… is actually really fucking good! Perhaps another surprise would be that it is pure Old School Death Metal. And when I say pure Old School, I mean it’s like Sororicide and God Macabre jamming the first Convulse album with Autopsy’s Mental Funeral gear. It is morbidly filthy and the sound is fucking huge. While the all-star personnel here boasts drummer Adrian Erlandsson (At the Gates, The Haunted, Cradle of Filth, Brujeria, and Paradise Lost just to name a few) and guitarist Hamish Hamilton Glencross (My Dying Bride), make no mistake about it, this is all Paradise Lost guitarist and founding member Gregor Mackintosh’s baby. He wrote the album as a tribute to his late father, which is another solid reason why we should all pull out. Save them from the future grief. Yet another surprise is the revelation that Mackintosh is actually a damn good Death Metal vocalist! He is a dead ringer for John Alman from the legendary Winter, which is to say there is, of course, a Tom G. Warrior influence as well. Musically I guess it should come as no surprise that this is somewhat reminiscent of Paradise Lost’s classic debut Lost Paradise , but with 20 years of added refinement and inspiration that is clearly evident. This is very heavy shit with heavy-hearted undertones that make their way into even the faster cuts. Not every song is a winner, but there are no bad songs, and the good outshines what little is mediocre by plenty. I simply have nothing bad to say about this great record. I only wonder, given the intensity and emotion exuded here, why Mackintosh is not allowed to inject any balls into Paradise Lost’s limp-wristed, plastic output of the last decade plus. Favorites: “All Will Suffer,” “Desecration,” “A Thousand Martyrs,” “My Black Siberia,” and “The Grim Irony.”
(2) Comment(s)
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loser said:
seems a genuine band, doom they have been a band in the punk scene since 1987, it many not be musically “doom metal” but subjects are about a doomed society, show some respect, it’s not always about a style of metal
Koji Kabuto said:
I don’t think that Jack was being disrespectful (this time!)... It’s usually very easy to tell.
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