60 minutes plus of pagan black metal is not something I would generally be enthralled about, but Canada’s Valknacht kept me occupied with ease throughout this albums duration. As with all pagan influenced albums this starts with battle like noises and a call to arms with the marching snare beat and a captivating keyboard backdrop. I guess you could say it sounds like the soundtrack to a fantasy film until the massive riff that starts “Valkyries Still Ride” careers in. The throaty vocal roar comes through as the tune takes on a folky bounce feel with a torrent of double bass which could have been a bit more prominent in the mix for my liking. Every single band in this genre has some other quirky instrumentation and Valknacht are no different with theirs being flute mostly, which is OK and adds variety but always annoy the hell out of me and should be found only on a Blackmore’s Night album for me. Listening to this album I ignored the flute playing when I could which is not easy when it appears at every possible position.
“Venu Du Septentrion” has an epic Bathory feel at the start before the song develops into a fist in the air rousing gallop beat. The blasts are very quick but short for the most part and work well enough. I couldn’t help but think of the Game Of Thrones TV series when listening to this album which is a compliment as the variation in atmosphere, speed and tone would work within any episode of said saga. The vocals have a chest beating macho feel with a deep resonating boom being used to supplement the heaviness. Obviously there are hugely melodic parts on all the songs that bands like Eluveite and Finntroll use, but the heaviness is more like Ensiferum and Trollfest. “Saxon’s Will” has a very speedy start with a huge emphasis on flute (I couldn’t ignore it this time) and double bass. A deep spoken voice is used that sounds like Johan of Amon Amarth before a shift in tempo that is like Turisas. The sporadic blasts add violence and power as the tune breaks for a black metal riff and beat not too dissimilar to very old Dimmu Borgir or Satyricon, and I mean old here.
The enormous eleven minutes of “The Autumn Of The Gods” has wind, rain and acoustic guitar and a predictable keyboard hook simulating strings. As the thunder is heard the song comes across as a funeral dirge or the sad bit in a fantasy film when the supporting hero has just died. The flute comes through before the main guitar break and vocals. However the acoustic guitar still keeps playing through this making the song much more interesting. It’s amazing how quickly this song passed by with subtle changes in pace added to the occasional blast work outs. I certainly enjoyed this song but by now my attention was waning after 45 minutes as “Mon Chemin Vers Le Valhalla” starts up. The formula is the same, which is fair enough if you crave more than an hours worth of this style of metal, which unfortunately I don’t. Closing tune is “Rite Funeraire” which also has acoustic guitar to begin with and keyboards for atmosphere. The drum thump is very medieval and theatrical as the song builds gradually to its melody. The flute is very dominating here adding to the theatrics and pomp of the album. If I was a bit more into this style of metal then this would hit the magical eight plus mark on our rating but for me I just can’t handle the flute bits which cynically for me are added so that the girlfriend of some guy in the band can get a spot, harsh maybe, but that’s my opinion. As far as the metal is concerned this is rock solid and up there with the likes of all the acts I’ve mentioned in my review and probably a host of others as well.
7.5/10 (Martin Harris)
Leave a Reply