In Between Realms

After a demo and a split release last year, Valor finally shows it means business with debut EP "In Between Realms". This may be a new act but the man behind it, calling himself Vaérmiyr, is none other than Miroslav Březina aka MBN who also operates several other current BM projects, including Arzhaabat (whose first demo "Forest Tribes Triumphant") I reviewed last year here at MA) and in addition runs the Cosmic Cause Productions label that specialises in black metal / ambient / blackened punk releases. Valor's style is raw and furious lo-fi BM topped by an angry distorted vocal: the music is reminiscent of 1990s-era BM but with an experimental attitude that is reminiscent of what some of the French Black Legions acts once did in their more fruitcake moments.

"Pagan Night Spell" sees in Valor in curmudgeonly spitfire style, the guitars spewing out harsh fiery tremolo sparks that make even the space in the music seem on fire, while the drums hammer out a solid if minimal beat and pained synths labour in the background. As the song progresses, the oddest can things happen: the music goes solemn all of a sudden, and then later the synths capture your attention with a strange repeating drone tone and sinister synth wash happening all at once while the rest of the music rages ever onwards. "Purge" also starts in a fairly straightforward way for a BM song, though with a much cleaner style, but then like the previous track it goes down an odd detour where it goes through black space and then a blackened synth / guitar orchestra phase that sounds faintly Middle Eastern. The clean style of playing makes the music seem much darker. From this moment on, though the music is still recognisably harsh lo-fi atmospheric BM, its textures and structures become more experimental and eccentric, sometimes to the point where it starts to sound rather like power electronics noise. The production changes from one song to the next as well, so that raw lo-fi music alternates with a cleaner style (though still very plain in sound) of melodic BM, and the vocals also change as the music does.

By the time we're over the halfway point, Vaérmiyr figures we should be ready for just about anything and everything bizarre so "Malevolent Spirits Departure" comes with a strummy rock'n'roll groove, a richly decadent and sick Gothic organ tune, a doodly guitar melody and a deathly guttural vocal from the next world gloating over the proceedings. This is truly one mind-bending soundtrack to a strange if slightly cartoony world of ghosts and ghouls. The EP closes with a track that might have come straight out of the more demented acts from the French Black Legions with its single strumming tremolo guitar tune and minimal percussion accompaniment dominated mainly by cymbal and snare drum work.

Even though there is a clear narrative right through the EP as indicated by track titles, the EP has the character of a compilation of songs that can be played in whatever order listeners prefer as the songs depart more and more from conventions of song composition and structure, and sometimes are reduced right down to the most essential BM instruments (a single guitar, a drumkit) and elements (an ongoing, repeating riff with minimal percussion accompaniment and some vocals). Songs can end in the most unexpected ways, either abruptly or tailing off uncertainly. A couple of tracks "Passage" and "Malevolent Spirits Departure" revel in their peculiar textures and atmospheres, and for me these are the stand-out tracks in an EP of continuous musical and stylistic invention to portray the world of the evil and accursed dead and bring their messages to the living.