Sublimely sculpted like the baddest of bad dreams, US black metal band Valdrin have produced an exceptionally fine offering for their third full-length album. The pace is unsettling and uncertain, as would be expected of any solitary set of mind tricks in the dead of night and, as its end is as abrupt as its beginning, it effectively draws on those uncontrollable and distressing experiences familiar to all.
The sound is inherent with the earliest forms of black metal with a standout vocal performance throughout. From the mind-racing anguish of ‘Red Burning Candles of Hatred’ to the intolerable intensity of ‘Basilisk of Light’, this is the nightmare now and the nightmare passed. The ones that never seem to go away.
Heavy use of synths lend an almost post-apocalyptic movie feel to proceedings but the rawness and crudity of the guitars as well as the blistering solo sections make this a record that any connoisseurs of extreme metal will relate to.
I hadn’t stumbled across this band before but, if this record is anything to go by, their back catalogue could well be worth a meander through. No one really likes having a nightmare – but if they’re anything like this take on them, I do wonder what all the fuss is about.
8/10
https://bloodharvestrecords.bandcamp.com/album/effigy-of-nightmares
https://www.facebook.com/valdrinausadjur/