Valdur-Raven god amognst us

2010

For years most of the notable black metal bands in the last decade have come from the other side of the Atlantic. However there have been a few stand-outs coming from our shores in recent years. Based on their latest effort California's Valdur could be added to that list of up and coming bands. I could easily say that they avoid being predictable and manage a great deal of control over all that they do. That's all true, but it doesn't quite do them justice. They manage the pace and know to slow their steamroller down and when to burst foward. Yet they avoid falling into the trap of just being a one-dimensional blast of noise. They build the heaviness into frenzied levels, but it never gets out of hand and it never goes in one direction for too long. They always manage to slow it down on bring it into an interesting passage. Still all of these changes help build the songs up. Actually the album largely gets better as it goes along. I am not sure that it needed three instumentals as they only serve to slow down the momentum. Still this is a fine outing from a band who are building their own identity with this effort.