Hearing that a band affiliated to Paradise Lost have just released an album would not normally be something that would get my blood boiling with anticipation. I confess that as metal took a hold within my psyche some years ago, PL were not one of those bands who made a great impression. Good they may have been but for me, upon hearing Forest Of Equilibrium there was no turning away from that particular casting of doom's shadow. I will make an effort to revisit Paradise Lost's most renowned works to see whether my more developed musical palette will induce any greater understanding or appreciation. Still, in the meantime we have a 'death metal with doom touches' release from Gregor Mackintosh, the Paradise Lost guitarist. Forget his past, how do Mackintosh and cohorts stack up in the gore-soaked and battle ruined landscape of contemporary death?
I cannot discuss this record without mentioning the guitar tone. The audio engineering minds and long experience of these practitioners has been bent toward the meatiest, meanest, most all-consuming encapsulation of the 'Swedish' guitar sound, and in all fairness they have pretty much succeeded. This muscular crunch reminds me of Goatsnake as well as the obvious Swe-death luminaries, and fittingly it really works best for me on the slower, doomier passages, such as with Aghast. In fact, that could almost actually be a Goatsnake track, with Mackintosh's guttural choke replacing Pete Stahl's bluesy croon. Drums are centred nicely in the mix and have plenty of clobber to punctuate the dense guitars. I found the kick drum to have a slightly irritating rattle to it during the faster moments, but really it's an unimportant element within the overall sound and was probably exacerbated by my listening on headphones. Generally the production was very heavy in a rather (too) modern and polished way. Perhaps this took the edge off of some less than riveting moments dispersed throughout.
I have to admit that while the band work best when they allow the riffs to ooze together in a crushingly heavy morass, the faster work left me feeling rather less excited. In these moments I found the album drifted by in an unremarkable way, failing to register much in terms of memorable passages that demanded repeated playing. When the band explores its full dynamic range though, as with album highlight Bereft, within which gothic leads weave, or the aforementioned Aghast, they demonstrate the ability to move between doom, d-beat, and latter day Celtic Frost/Tryptykon heaviosity. Wolves Of Sin demonstrates a nice balance of tempos and at just over 3 minutes doesn't get too stale, and closing track Splinters demonstrates a nice atonal droning behind the crush, bringing a sense of the abject to the fore.
The melodic touches I had been expecting were scarce though, and while the album closes leaving the ears ringing, and Mackintosh's growl is full of conviction, ultimately Vallenfyre fail to produce enough stand out moments to earn a place in the end of year lists. There are simply too many tracks that drift by without leaving much trace in the memory banks. The guitar tone dominates and leaves the overall impression of relative monotony at times, as some of the songs lack too many nuances beyond the constant striving for heaviness. I'd love to hear some of the gothic-style leads and atmospheric touches I remember of Paradise Lost, so tantalisingly glimpsed in the track Bereft.
In the end though, Vallenfyre, for all their intent and monolithic tone, remain in the shadow of more illustrious peers. I hope there is more to come by way of dynamics in future works from this band. If so, they may yet step from the darkness and cast shadows of their own.