Genre: Melodic Black Metal
Label: Black Mass Prayers
Line Up:
Valadier from Marche (Italy) made their debut with their first EP entitled “Stronghold of the Everlasting Pyre”.
The cover and the introductory part refer to a Black Metal record in the "old way", in full Dark Medieval Times style, however, the digital wall with which we are dealing shortly after the beginning does not evoke many medieval themes and is obscurely expressed by the concept.
The voice timbre is not enhanced by choice of this type of production and, certainly, it would have enjoyed greater prominence with an analogue and raw sound, perhaps with real drumming instead of the drum machine, to enhance the malign aura typical of the gender.
During the 28 minutes of the EP there is a crescendo in terms of composition, the last two tracks, "Stronghold of the Everlasting Pyre" and "Only the Stone Shall Remember Thy Name", are the best writing solutions, the title track is the most convincing song of the mini-album.
The riffs with more personality are little exploited in the writing of the songs and, on the whole, rather repetitive compositional structures are found.
The impression is that the band is still looking for a real stylistic identity, which can be seen above all in some rather risky passages.
We await a full album to better understand their intentions and progress.
DOC.
