Valknacht are a band from Quebec, Canada that plays a pagan form of black metal with elements of folk music and this is a review of their 2014 album "Le Sacrifice d' Ymir" which will be released by PRC Music.
The album starts off with an intro which utilizes viking chanting to bring a feeling of the dark waves as well as nature sounds and once the synths are added in the album starts going for more of an epic and atmospheric direction.
Once the album starts getting into the real songs you can hear traces of Graveland and Polish black metal being added into the atmosphere and then the heavy guitars and screams start to kick in as well as a classical music feeling which adds to the epic qualities of the recording along with some death metal influenced growls once guitar leads are added in as well as blast beats, then the album takes a more melodic direction while also remaining heavy at the same time which enhances the folk elements.
Melodic pagan chanting is also used on a regular basis during the recording and once acoustic guitars are added in the music starts taking on a folk/black metal direction along with the medieval sounding flutes and as we get more into the album the melodies start adding in a lot more emotion and sorrow bringing in some Norwegian pagan metal influences and mixing it with the more modern folk metal sound.
As we head more into the songs they start getting more epic as time goes on by and the mixture of melodic black metal, death and folk metal really does give the album a sound of its own and the songs really do the Pagan Gods justice and halfway through the album there is a brief use of female vocals that really enhance the aggressive qualities of the music.
Halfway through the album traditional metal elements start mixing in and adding another shade of color to the recording as well as the blast beats taking on an even more brutal approach while also retaining the atmospheric elements, as the album opens with an epic sound it also ends in the same direction.
Song lyrics are written in French and cover Paganism and Mythology, while the production has a very strong, powerful, heavy and professional sound with the bass guitars being mixed down low in the mix as well as most of the songs being very long and epic in length.
In my opinion Valknacht are a very great sounding epic pagan/black metal band and if you are a fan of this musical genre, you should check out this album. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "Bataille de Maldon" "Le Sacrifice d' Ymir" and "Que Le Sang Constelle Mes Mains". RECOMMENDED BUY.
| Last.fm |
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