Valdrin – Throne of the Lunar Soul
November 24th, 2023
Melodic Black Metal / Blackened Death Metal
Blood Harvest
Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
I’d never heard of Valdrin before but upon taking one look at the breathtaking cover art that graces the front of this album I immediately checked it out. Melodic black metal and blackened death metal are both genres that are often hit or miss with me but I was completely sucked in by this cover and found myself immersed in a sonic landscape of beauty, complexity, and ferocity within. The level of grandiosity depicted on the cover, through exquisite detail and its bright-yet-muted colour palette, are a perfect representation of what lies beyond the visual.
Beginning with some mesmerizing, ethereal guitar passages in the introduction of “Neverafter”, the album embarks on a sonic journey through decaying kingdoms lost to time. This quartet, consisting of vocalist-guitarist-keyboardist Carter Hicks, guitarist Colton Deem, bassist James Lewis, and drummer Ryan Maurmeier, proceed to dazzle the listener with an organized and disciplined cacophony of blast beats, virulent and triumphant riffage, and orchestral arrangements that embrace the vampiric and gothic atmosphere hinted at by the aesthetic of the cover art.
I’m reminded of groups like Dissection as well as Emperor while listening to this, though the songs here are debatably more high-minded than those of Dissection and somewhat less avant garde than the material Emperor got up to throughout the course of their career. Still, this album packs tons of surprises, from the dissonant piano chords on “Golden Walls of Ausadjur” to the subtle hints of flamenco guitar playing in “Sojourner Wolf”, it’s both full of memorable guitar melodies and complex, multi-layered compositions that never feel like they’re overstaying their welcome.
Hicks’ vocals are high pitched, wretched, and bear a hint of the sneer of thrash bands like Havok or Sadus. It’s the perfect type of vocal approach for this kind of medieval and fantastical black metal that feels rooted in the kind of mythology one might encounter in a work of fiction like Dark Souls or Bloodborne. There’s a degree to which the vocals have a slight “I’m-at-my-wits-end” sort of quality to them that pushes them over the edge from good to great territory. It’s not all harsh though, as there are moments where clean vocals shine through in these huge, operatic passages of brilliance that only serve to elevate this work to an even more epic place than it was before. Every time the clean vocals hit it feels like a cherry on top of a delectable chocolate sundae.
I cannot fawn over the guitar work on here enough. The sinister yet triumphant melody work of Dissection feels strong here, melded with the black metal atmosphere of Emperor, as I mentioned before, though I also detect a hint of Children of Bodom throughout the solo work, especially some of the more classical-oriented moments, like the intro of “Neverafter”. There’s a distinct amount of diversity when it comes to what kind of riffs you’ll hear throughout this record’s runtime. One of my favourite moments comes in the jaunty, folksy riff that crops up at the end of “Paladins of Ausadjur”, totally out of nowhere, shifting that song’s entire vibe to something completely different yet still stylistically coherent.
The drums, as you’d probably expect, are complex and technical as hell, without reaching tech death levels of course. They feel just right, sitting at the necessary level for this brand of underground symphony-laden black metal. Blast beats and double bass patterns abound, for sure, but you won’t hear any gravity blasts or insane fills. The percussion playing is restrained and tasteful, carrying each track through a variety of tempos and vibes that switch between swaying, headbanging, and circle pit-inducing.
The production here is fantastic as well. The symphonic elements never overstep the rest of the band’s playing, as symphonic black and death metal is often subjected to. Rather they bleed right into the mixture of the rest of the instruments. Everything sort of melds together into this one cacophonous wall of sound while the individual melodies are still able to cut through the mix.
I wasn’t expecting this album to wow me as much as it did but having listened to it through on numerous occasions now I can confidently say this is easily one of the best records of 2023, despite its somewhat intimidating length at one hour and thirteen minutes. Melodic black metal, for as hit or miss as it is, produced a winner with this. Valdrin have earned a new fan in me with Throne of the Lunar Soul, and now I feel compelled to go listen to their past three albums. I look forward to what they do next, and if you haven’t listened to this thing yet, don’t let it pass you by.
Final Verdict: 9/10
Awesome
Favoruite Tracks:
“Neverafter”
“Golden Walls of Ausadjur”
“Seven Swords (In the Arsenal of Steel)”
“Paladins of Ausadjur”
“Sojourner Wolf”
“Vagrant in the Chamber of Night”
“Throne of the Lunar Soul”
“Two Carrion Talismans”
~ Akhenaten
Where Strides The Behemoth? 