ALBUM REVIEW: Heralds Of Strife – Vallendusk

Ever since the release of their eponymous, debut EP back in 2012, Indonesia’s VALLENDUSK have established themselves as one of the most consistently impressive black metal acts on the planet. Blending together razor sharp, melodic flourishes with the epic bombast and subtle folk elements, the band has developed a solid reputation over the years for incredibly engrossing and grandiose music, with their brilliant Homeward Path being arguably one of the absolute benchmarks of modern, atmospheric black metal. Their latest album, Heralds of Strife, sees the band’s characteristic sound broaden significantly, being one of their most ambitious and eclectic records to date.

The Last Soar As The Feathers Fall starts things off strong with its intricate, razor sharp guitars and frenetic drumming. It’s a fierce, but nonetheless epic, piece of music, with the harsh, snarling approach of the vocals adding a caustic edge to proceedings. Shifting seamlessly between melody driven, catchy moments and sudden, intense bursts, this is a song that does an excellent job of balancing the grandiose and aggressive elements within VALLENDUSK‘s sound, proving to be a powerful and immersive start to the record.

Towards The Shimmering Dawn takes the dancing leads of the previous track and gives them a darker, ethereal twist without sacrificing any of the atmospherics. The keyboards and acoustic flourishes feature more prominently, but still complement the guitar and vocal performances as opposed to dominating the sound. Ethereal Echoes Of Devotion, with its denser, rhythmic hooks and cleaner vocals, has an energetic, folky undercurrent and a much more classic black metal sound. The bombastic sections, although still present, notably in some glorious motifs peppered throughout, are significantly scaled back, allowing for the imaginative guitar work to take centre stage, with plenty of robust riffs maintaining the listener’s attention throughout.

Solivagant Heart serves as a rabid, speed-driven affair, with blistering leads, howling vocal deliveries and precise drum work, all cloaked in a soaring keyboard ambience, with a few acoustic guitar passages providing majestic breaks in the controlled cacophony that informs this track’s sound.

Marching Ballad Of The Unsung Ones returns to the leaner sound of the album’s earlier offerings, with slick, memorable melodicism underpinning everything, whether it’s mid-tempo or chaotically fast. The acoustic guitars and keyboards, likewise, contribute a lot to the song, making for an interesting slab of truly atmospheric, beguiling black metal.

Immemorials In Eternal Slumber, with its thicker sound and steadier tempo, creates a bombastic and muscular feel right from the start, coupling expert musicianship with a chunkier backdrop, lending a cavernous sound to the fantastic leads and biting vocals, something that makes this song especially stand out on a record that already features lots of magnificent song-writing. The Sovereign – lengthy even by this band’s standards – sees the keyboards on full display, adding, as opposed to providing another layer to, the song’s overall style and sound. The brilliant guitars manage to combine electric and acoustic parts extremely effectively, which gives this song a more complex and delicate guitar sound than on earlier offerings. It has all of the hallmarks of the band’s sound, from the visceral quality of the vocals to the thunderous drums, whilst showcasing more experimentation, ensuring that the end of the album is very bit as excellent as its opening moments.

As is always the case with VALLENDUSK, Heralds of Strife proves to be yet another jaw-dropping piece of music, perhaps even more so this time around considering the incredibly layered and well developed song-writing. The more prominent and adventurous use of keyboards and acoustic guitars, alongside the more intricate leads, provides a plethora of great moments for listeners, without laying any of these elements on too thick or hindering effect the music is trying to achieve. Above all, it’s yet another shining example, if any were needed, of this band’s talents and pedigree as one of black metal’s more captivating and atmospheric acts.

Rating: 9/10

Heralds Of Strife is out now via Northern Silence Productions.

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