A Fragile King [Limited Edition]

I came across this in Metal Hammer and it peaked my interest immediately. Collaboration between members of My Dying Bride, Paradise Lost and others? Sounds interesting. Then the shadow of doubt that enters the mind when the word collaboration is used. Will they sound like an actual fully formed band or just a side project. The answer is they most definitely are fully formed. It was a welcome dive back to the old skool of death (and doom) but with new weight and freshness. References to Autopsy, Celtic Frost and Entombed on the cover are well made but Vallenfyre still manage to sound like completely their own band. The artwork is excellent, the lyrics carry the weight of intelligence and the overall feel is everything you would hope for from a group of well experienced and seasoned musicians. The matt inlay booklet also smells like underground CD art used to smell (for those of who used to seek their new bands out on gut instinct before the net). Each song is atmospheric and well structured. Each song is aggressive but with the slower, calmer confidence of Autopsy (Mental Funeral era) as opposed to the constant reliance on blast beats you may get with a less experienced musicians.

This manages to be an up to date, weighty album while simultaneously managing to be the next great album I was constantly looking for in the early nineties.

I too am a long time fan of Paradise Lost. I'm now 42, but I grew up in the late 80's early 90's thrash, death, grindcore scene and have never lost my love of brutal, heavy, dark music.
The grinding heavy guitars sound very reminisant of Entombed's left hand path, which I always rated as one of the best ever guitar sounds, and the passion and feeling that Gregor and Hamish give to the music is stunning.
Gregor, to my mind, has always written great music and this album is no exception, in fact it raises the bar considerably for all to follow. I really hope they tour this album, as live it'd be amazing, but can't see it happening. Still I can live in hope
Whilst I find so much new metal is lacking in originality, this album whilst having it's roots in old school metal, also sounds very fresh and original.
Give it a go, you know you want to, and if you struggle with it, then yes, you are too old!

Vallenyfyre first appeared with a limited 7" vinyl on Imperium productions with almost no indication at all about who was involved or in what way the project was to develop. A run of 500 units, the single featured the tracks `desecration' and `iconoclast', both of which proved to be stunningly heavy, and it was only later that information started to surface about the nature of the project.

It took almost no time at all for various websites to start bandying around the term `supergroup' (a vile term at the best of times) but in truth this is no such thing - neither the band nor their label have made any such claims and given the deeply personal nature of Greg Mackintosh's lyrics it seems a massive disservice to suggest that this is some vacuous attempt at celebrity back-slapping. Certainly Vallenfyre holds similarities with both Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride, but ultimately this is the brainchild of Greg, conceived during a truly awful time in his life, and his tormented, intelligent lyrics are the catalyst for the remarkable music that rumbles around them.

The opening track, `all will suffer' tells you immediately that this is going to be a resolutely gruelling experience. A howl of feedback gives way to funeral-slow guitars and pummelling drums. It is the sound of unfettered horror, slithery guitar leads crawling over the desiccated riffs whilst Greg's roar is part projected angst, part searing rage and as deathly as it comes - fans familiar with Paradise Lost's much vaunted `Gothic'-era will find much to love here but this is more than just a PL clone - Greg's return to his roots sees elements of Celtic Frost, Amebix, Darkthrone and Aborted all woven into the sound and there is certainly little let up across the ten (eleven if you're sensible and buy the beautiful vinyl edition) tracks, with the mood grotesquely sombre throughout. `Desecration', which so impressed on the single, is the wonderful second track; the guitars once again slither and slide before giving way to a straight-laced death riff that is liable to take your head clean off if not approached with appropriate care - it's mind-numbingly heavy, pitch black in mood and you can feel Greg's rampaging emotions shot through the bleak lyrical content giving the music a more overtly personal feel than much of the blackened doom out there - it is certainly no surprise that he felt unable to pass the lyrics over to anyone else given their intrinsically personal nature. `Ravenous whore' subverts the obvious despair and unleashes a stunningly violent assault upon the senses that is closest in spirit to the virulent grind movement of the eighties - more Napalm Death than Paradise lost, it's a stunningly and unexpectedly brutal attack that leaves you gasping and breathless before `Cathedrals of dread' steps up to the plate with hints of vintage Sepultura shot through the blackened and unyielding barrage of guitars. It's a vicious one-two punch that shows more than anything that Vallenfyre are very much their own masters, unafraid to challenge any preconceptions that fans may have and with the songs written, primarily, to please themselves rather than the world around them. It's cathartic, untrammelled and whilst the wounds exposed in the lyrics, so obviously still raw and weeping, can be uncomfortable at times, the emotion running through the music makes it one of the most powerful blackened doom releases to appear in some time...

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