Valdur: " At War With"

West coast metal maulers are back and even more brutal than their last album. The album opens with a return to the more death metal elements of their sound. It is typical in the sense that it is powerful enough to keep your attention through sheer pounding ,but can they keep it up with less black metal here and more death metal?

 The drumming is top notch, the vocals are the weak link sticking to a lower roar. The eerie hint of melody on "Death Winds Will Cleanse" restores my faith in their songwriting after the first song, as I had braced my self for just a dense beating. This song gives that but also establishes a catchy groove to the verse riff. The verses are still more deathly than black. The very Incantation rumble of "Incantre" really brings this fact to the forefront. The sampled sections create the needed ambiance preceding songs like " Vast" this song has the first sense of sweeping sonics that differentiate black metal and proves to band the bands strongest suit

"At War With the Old World" takes on a more death metal like tone, it keeps an equal balance of dark and epic before it reverts to the blast. The beat slows into a more formed riff midway through."The Calm Before the War" wastes little time wasting time in a frantic blast. This finds the bands up against the judgment around here that cool riffs don't make a song."Hellish Discord" takes on a more ambient dissonance in its blasting that is more typical of black metal."Hammer Pit" takes a more deliberate pace, more death metal than not , it's a decent song amidst the blasting breaks. Digging its claw in on a heavy chug mid way through. Once the song reaches the three minutes mark even at this speed it feels like it drags. The outro is pretty much more of the same blasting, but the  riff is a little more melodic, but not enough to provide the dynamics this album needs.

This album doesn't quite reach the balance of great metal metal they found  on Raven Go Among Us", I'll give it a 6.5 as I have enjoyed their past work so am a little disappointed in the more death metal direction they have gone.




Valdur - "Vicious Existence" Bloody Mountain... by BlankTV