Valfreya - Promised Land

Artist: Valfreya
Release Title: Promised Land
Year: 2017
Label: Independent/Self-Released
Genre: Melodic Folk/Black Metal
Tracklisting:
1. Horizon
2. Odin's Fury
3. Mortal Supremacy
4. Pandemonium
5. The Icelanding Sagas
6. Shame and Despair
7. Peuple du nord
8. Promised Land
9. The Choice
10. Warlords
11. Evolution
12. Undying Tale

Trying to harness their sound, Canadian folk/black metallers Valfreya have spent many years being able to hone their unique and engaging mix of folk and black metal together in a fine mix of styles that continue to show inspiration and influence from Norse mythology. Having dominated the live scene in the interim, the group finally returns from a five-year gap with their self-released sophomore effort January 10, 2017.

Coming across immediately, the band offers a stellar outpouring of their chosen style as they offer some of the finest concoctions of their style as they can. The major focus here is on the tight, lock-step riffing that manages to simultaneously merge their stuttering folk leanings chugging along with the stellar tremolo-picked melodies of their black metal side. This framework makes the material here come off with a highly appealing side as the folk-driven black metal is tinged with nice symphonics to complete an engaging overall atmosphere that captures the epic spirit involved in the conceptual storyline running throughout the album. Given that this epic splendor results in the vast majority of the album containing a rousing, bombastic feel throughout this is played at a bouncy, up-tempo pace that perfectly suits the album’s given themes and manages to give this a strong, stylish and engaging tone that makes for a really enjoyable listen. The biggest issue here is that the album tends to come off rather stuffed and full, especially in the later half where it’s simply more of the same being presented here since this one doesn’t really offer up too much all that different from the vast majority of the other tracks here which means that the album runs together and becomes hard to distinguish from itself quite easily. However, this isn’t that big of a detriment with all the enjoyable material present elsewhere.

Although it’s a little bit longer than what it really should be, the fact that there’s far more to enjoy about this one with its strong mixture of raging folk tunes and fiery black metal rhythms makes this one a fine choice for aficionados of folk-influenced black metal or this type of material in general.

Score: 90/100

Does it sound good? Order it from here:
https://valfreya1.bandcamp.com/

Misteyes - Creeping Time

Artist: Misteyes
Release Title: Creeping Time
Year: 2016
Label: Maple Metal Records
Genre: Gothic/Death Metal
Tracklisting:
1. The Last Knell (Intro)
2. Creeping Time
3. Brains in a Vat
4. Inside the Golden Cage
5. Lady Loneliness
6. The Prey
7. Destroy Your Past
8. The Demon of Fear
9. A Fragile Balance (Awake the Beast - Part 1)
10. Chaos (Awake the Beast - Part 2)
11. Decapitated Rose
12. Winter's Judgement

Initially forming in 2012, Italian gothic/death metallers Misteyes underwent a drastic changeover in the beginning as their sound quickly shifted away from a melodic death/black sound to a more prominent gothic-influenced approach heralded by rounding out the bands’ lineup with female vocals and a permanent keyboard. Ready to bring their vision of light and darkness center-stage, the group prepares its full-length debut release April 8, 2016 on Maple Metal Records.

As befits the bands’ style, the album is generally awash in lush, vibrant rhythms that take the steady, straightforward riffing style of gothic metal which is powerful, tight and rather light-hearted melodies which are the major focus here. This is somewhat technical yet still allows for plenty of extended sections of tight, swirling speed-metal riff-work that enables for harmonic meshing with the keyboards keeping in perfect sync with the tight rhythms as the album shifts dynamically between these explosive sections and a more mid-tempo prowl that works wonderfully here. These slower, more haunting passages are augmented by the operatic female vocals for the most part which is a glorious contrast to the lighter sections elsewhere that are dominantly featured with the melodic runs and swirling keyboard work creating this style and both wonderfully complimenting each other quite well. As this work here is the dominant vibe on the material, it’s given plenty of dynamic vibes by the wholly drastic manner in which it changes over throughout here as it’s quite adept at maneuvering through these change-overs quite well with the sudden crashing riffing blowing up the slower tempos while still retaining the harmonic gothic undertones present. While all of this is exceptionally enjoyable and made all the more so for it being a debut release, the fact that this is somewhat bloated in the second half with a few too many tracks does make this a little overlong and somewhat difficult to get all the way through here as the running time does make this a struggle at points especially with it featuring some weaker tracks. However, it does get a pass at this for being a debut.

Overall, this was quite a strong and dynamic release that offers up plenty of enjoyable elements with only a minor flaw here in their overzealousness to present too much of their material to the world that enables this to readily appeal to many fans of the gothic or symphonic metal soundscapes who will find a lot to like here providing that one element isn’t a detrimental one to the listener.

Score: 91/100

Does it sound good? Order it from here:
http://misteyes.bandcamp.com/releases