Vallenfyre - Desecration
I’ve never liked reviewing EPs. The problem with reviewing an EP is that there is so little to go on that it’s hard to get a read on what a band is like based on two or three songs. In this case, there are only two tracks, “Desecration” and “Iconoclast.” “Desecration” is the longer of the two, clocking in at just a hair over five minutes, while “Iconoclast” is around three. Both songs are best described as old-school Swedish Death Metal in the vein of old Entombed, Dismember and Where No Life Dwells era Unleashed. If you remember what Left Hand Path sounds like, then you pretty much know what Desecration sounds like. Honestly, you could tell me that this was a leftover track from Left Hand Path and outside from a slight difference in sound, it would be totally believable. Brutal? Yes. Well executed? Sure. Original? No fucking way. This is by the numbers Entombed/Dismember worship. It’s well executed enough for me to want to check out a full-length album, but if the rest of their material draws on the obviously glaring influences, then I’m going to have to deduct points. I like old-school Swedish Death Metal, but at some point even the founders of the style had to evolve out of it. You can only produce so many copies of Left Hand Path and Like an Ever Flowing Stream before people start using your albums like Ambien.
(2) Comment(s)
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Koji Kabuto said:
I think that I’d be pretty happy with another Left Hand Path or Like an Ever Flowing Stream, honestly.
Ychoril said:
When you consider that most bands these days are pumping out material that is essentially Under A Funeral Moon or A Blaze In The Northern Sky, someone actually worshiping something else is refreshing. Still, I remember when just about everything had that “Sunlight Studios” sound. It was cool for a while but so many bands did it (and badly) that oversaturation killed it. Vallenfyre has some serious heavyweights as members (Gregor Mackintosh of Paradise Lost, Hamish Glencross of My Dying Bride, Scoot from Doom and Adrian Erlandsson from Paradise Lost/ex-At The Gates) so there’s no shortage of talent. All of these guys have been (and still are) part of bands that have produced and are capable of producing innovative, heavy, punishing, Metal music - which is one reason I expect more from them than from a bunch of kids. I still want to check out a full-length because two songs don’t tell you enough about what a band is capable of. A full album will tell you if there’s greatness in a band or if all they’re capable of is following in the footsteps of better bands.
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