vallenfyre

Vallenfyre played a powerful show at Gebr. de Nobel in Leiden, NL a couple of weeks ago. Here are some pics from the awesome concert.

(9/10) “Fear Those Who Fear Him” is already Vallenfyre’s third release and I’m not sure if such a successful continuation was planned from the very beginning. Greg Mackintosh, guitarist and founding member of Paradise Lost, started Vallenfyre in 2010. Working on the debut helped the guitarist to handle the death of his father; it was a helpful outlet in a period of sadness and grief work. I think that this made the debut “A Fragile King” to something special. It was more than just an album, it was a release that was build on human emotions. What followed the release have been very positive fan reactions and excellent media feedback. Vallenfyre unveiled again the roots of death metal while Mackintosh’s main band Paradise Lost shifted more towards gothic influenced dark metal.

Based on these positive reactions Vallenfyre continued their work and released the sophomore “Splinter” in 2014. Two years later, on June 2^nd 2017, the band will reveal their newest record “Fear Those Who Fear Him”.

Let’s start from outside in. The first thing that’s genius is the name of this record that also goes very well together with the artwork, done by Hal Rotter. Both, title and artwork, provide a perfect framework for what you can expect from the music. Each of the twelve songs is a heavy and rude masterpiece. Vallenfyre doesn’t pay any attention to compromises or conformity. This album isn’t made for gaining new fans. A growing fan base results more out “Fear Those Who Fear Him” being an authentic matter of heart. It’s loud, it’s brutal, it’s angry, it’s fragile … it’s human.

The before mentioned describes the basic mood on the album, a vibe weaved into each of the tracks. What varies though quite a bit is the length of each of the songs. On the one hand there is the short and aggressive “Dead World Breathes” which is a one minute metal attack per excellence and there are more of those. The album comes with additional brutal assaults like “Nihilist” being another example.

Next to these spot-on wrecking balls there are the elegiac numbers present on the album too. Songs like “An Apathic Grave” and “Cursed From the Womb” are slowly paced doom death numbers that get close to funeral death. Is it the brutality that characterizes the fast tracks, it’s the baleful melancholy and sadness that creates fascination for the epical songs.

To conclude: “Fear Those Who Fear Him” has a lot to offer. It’s Vallenfyre’s third longplayer, standing for a seamless continuation of what the band started in 2010. This album is big, something you shouldn’t miss.

(9/10)

Tracklist:

1. Born To Decay
2. Messiah
3. Degeneration
4. An Apathetic Grave
5. Nihilist
6. Amongst The Filth
7. Kill All Your Masters
8. The Merciless Tide
9. Dead World Breathes
10. Soldier Of Christ
11. Cursed From The Womb
12. Temple Of Rats

Label: Century Media

Genre: Death Metal

Release Date EU: June 2^nd, 2017

The first bands for the Blastbeat festival on Bergen, Norway are confirmed. See here an overview...

Bolt Thrower is on tour with some great support bands. The british death metal legend will be accompanied by German death metal icons Morgoth plus Soulburn / Incantation / Vallenfyre (depending on the leg of the tour). Sounds like pure power.

(9/10) The foundation of Vallenfyre is a very special one. The initiative was taken by Paradise Lost guitarist Greg Mackintosh. He started Vallenfyre as something to compensate the grief about the death of his father. Greg started to write down things and create songs which transport very much the sadness  and anger of such a situation. He put all this into the funnel and the result was an album called "A fragile king". At that time I didn't know much about the story behind the album. The more exciting thing for me was, that the rawness of the material was more recall to the early days of Paradise Lost. But however, it was really strong debut disc.

The second remarkable things was, that Greg did also the lead vocals. We know him as a brilliant guitar player, but nobody could really say how this experiment would work. Actually it work really well. I think that the secret in this is, that nobdy except him could express things in such a brutal emotional way than he could - based on what he went through.

Now the band released their second album called "Splinter". It is the next step and a further develop of Vallenfyre. They kept the unwillingness to compromise and the straight forward approach of their songwriting. But they also managed to make the songs a bit more complex and ambitious. This combination fits very well. The unwillingness to compromise is actually also the base for the entire atmosphere of the album. Eventhough it's not the grief anymore which mainly drives the emotions on the album it's Mackintosh's disappointment on many things in daily life, which led to the pissed-off and angry vibe on "Splinter".

Already the opener "Scabs" became one of my faves on the album. It is a raw death metal beast which has with its simplicity even a bit of a punk reference. What I like with the vocals here (and on the entire album) is that they are very rough, but not the extreme way of growling like e.g. Six Feet Under does it. In my point of view it adds something to the songs. Also to mention the variety of tracks on the album. Amazing to see how many faces rage and dejection can have. "Instinct slaughter" is e.g. an ultra short and fast tune with grindcore references. Before you're into the song it;s already over. At least that is how it feels. On the other hand there is doomy and almost Celtic Frost based title track which takes you on a six minutes long trip though depression. Next to that there are the tracks with the death metal appearance like "Dragged to Ghenna" which steamrolls everything in it's way. So watch out.

Mackintosh found with Vallenfyre an ideal playground for the more aggressive side of music. This allows him to focus with Paradise Lost more on dark and gothic influenced metal, which fits them as well. "Splinter" is, together with the new Triptykon album, one of the best releases in the genre so far.

(9/10)

Tracklist:

1. Scabs
2. Bereft
3. Instinct slaughter
4. Odious bliss
5. Savages arise
6. Aghast
7. The wolves of sin
8. Cattle
9. Dragged to Gehenna
10. Thrist for extinction
11. Splinters

Label: Century Media

Genre: Death Metal

Two years after releasing the debut album and some exclusive live shows later, VALLENFYRE is pleased to announce that they will begin recording the follow-up to "A Fragile King" in January 2014 at GodCity Studio in Salem, MA. Produced by Kurt Ballou (CONVERGE, BLACK BREATH, NAILS), this currently untitled opus will see the crusty death-doom merchants take their sound to new extremes.

Gregor Mackintosh comments: "We were very pleased with our debut album as a dirty mix of all our earliest death, doom and crust influences. On the follow-up, we want to take this much further and develop our own niche. It will be a stench-ridden, grim, face-melter that will separate the men from the boys."