Vallenfyre - Splinters (2014)

Splinters is another of those retro death metal records of which the production values alone will no doubt spin a lot of heads. I only wish mine was among them, because when I break this down to a musical level alone, there's just not much interesting happening and I feel like this entire wave of throwback extremity is surely and steadily starting to jump a shark. That's not to mock the efforts of Gregor Mackintosh and company, since they at least generate a solid effort at contrasting moderate-speed Swedish death metal with the harrowing death/doom of Gregor's mainstay. But when the considerable smoke clears from this sophomore experience, I don't think there's a single riff I feel like revisiting, and that doesn't speak of its chances when there are a few hundred other comparable records vying for the same attention spans.

Splinters is not a far cry from the Vallenfyre debut, only it seems a bit more raw and attitude driven, like a hybrid of modern Asphyx/Hail of Bullets with late 80s Paradise Lost, ancient Celtic Frost/ Hellhammer grooves ("Odious Bliss") and then some creatively bankrupt d-beat riffing passages which remind me quite a lot of tunes by the latest in the Entombed-core craze. You've got sad little melodies woven through the meatier, flesh-torn distorted rhythm guitars, but unfortunately they all feel really plain and simplified to the point that they can't even touch the genuine melancholy and gloom cast by Gregor's earlier material with Paradise Lost (Gothic, Icon, etc). The drumming is quite fantastic, in fact I love how the album opened with just the simple string of crushing chords and then a mighty fill which put me instantly in the mood to enjoy this...only it turns out that much of the material really lacks that sense of explosive excitement and so many of the riffing patterns are derivative to the point that I wanted to skip over them and hope for some light in the mist. At best they erupt into some semblance of almost-memorable punishment ("Savages Arise"), but the notes just never fall into place for me to fully invest myself into these songs.

On the plus side, for a lot of younger fans, or people who just want the enormous guitar tone you'll find amongst those bands attempting to out-Swede Sweden, the sound on this album alone is likely to make it one of your weekly favorites. Combined with Gregor's enormous, brick-faced growls, it does pack a loud punch somewhere in between Nails and Hail of Bullets. Now if only the chords chosen were thoughtful, interesting or at least bluntly evil in effect, there would be something more than a mere visceral thrill in listening through this. The slower, doom parts never make me feel doomed, just sort of run of the mill seeing that they come from a guy who has been part of some of the best tunes the field has ever offer. The speedier bits are just analogs for a thousand other bands, showing some life in the old limbs of the performers but never once presenting something that sticks. I'm usually a guitar guy, so if I'm paying more attention to Adrian Erlandsson then Gregor and Hamish, that tells me something. On the whole though, if you want Grave, Dismember, Entombed and Unleashed updated yet again with the crush dialed up, this is likely to sate that craving...I just think there are so many other bands doing it better, and a severe lack of nuance and atmosphere (beyond the guitar tone, I mean) send this one pitching into an opaque void, while A Fragile King managed to hover for awhile longer over that same precipice.

Verdict: Indifference [6.25/10]

https://www.facebook.com/Vallenfyre?fref=ts

Vallenfyre - A Fragile King (2011)

A Fragile King is an album I have definitely being looking forward to, as it promised a return to the roots for several of its celebrated membership. I'm an enormous fan of Gregor Mackintosh's melodic, Gothic guitar lines, and to hear them placed back into the context of crushing doom and death that heralded the halcyon years of his mainstay Paradise Lost was something that I was surprised took even this long. He's joined here by another old guard in the death doom field, Hamish of My Dying Bride, as well as storied Swedish drummer Adrian Erlandsson, and A Fragile King is the ultimate result, one that both delivers and, sadly, somewhat disappoints...

But not, at least, for the first two tracks, which entirely fit the mold of heightened anticipation. "All Will Suffer" features those darkly gleaming, rain-drizzle walls of emotional oppression that were so prevalent on Paradise Lost classics like Gothic and Icon, while Mackintosh himself provides the dour, opaque growling like a more muscular alternative to his long-time compatriot Nick Holmes in his early years. Lots of tense, burrowing double bass here from Erlandsson, while the rhythm guitars take on a distinctly old Swedish tone that might remind one of Entombed, Dismember and the many thousands of acolytes to follow them. The ensuing "Desecration", which was already releases as an EP earlier in the year, is also pretty strong in the melodic department, with grimy, corpulent grooves that are flawlessly fixated to the tearstained canopy.

Problem is...well, the album is just not that consistent, and there are a number of cuts here where the band adopts a more crude death metal aesthetic reminiscent of Grave, Asphyx and Unleashed but lacking some of the strong riffing and balance of the cuts above. "Ravenous Whore", "As the World Collapses", and "Humanity Wept" are all pretty bland attempts to develop effortless, derivative grooves and feel like any random band of Sweden worshipers circa 1992. The guitar tone is still potent and pulverizing, the vocals rich and dark, but the notes just don't have that 'it' factor to stand out among so many similar recordings. There are still a few stunners spread throughout the track list, like the melancholic swell of "Seeds" or the better approximations of Entombed meets Paradise Lost ("The Divine Have Fled", "A Thousand Martyrs") but the mood is occasionally broken up with the more boring filler.

That said, there is still enough to A Fragile King where it might be worth checking out for either long term Paradise Lost devotees or those addicted to old school nostalgia or the Swedish stylings of other throwback bands like Miasma, Demonical, and Entrails. The production is well suited to the composition, so bleak and impenetrable that you eagerly seek each ray of downtrodden melody as if it were the last ray of the sun to warm your bones. Though Gregor's vocals can grow dull and listless in their gravelly repetition, he's got a strong enough presence to sell the sad opacity of the lyrics. But of the 42 minutes of material, there are probably about 30 worth the wait, and the rest seem as if they might have been better developed. I'm hoping that next time, if there IS a next time, Vallenfyre can increase the consistency of its throughput.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10] (until the shell of man remains)

http://www.vallenfyre.co.uk/