Vallenfyre – A Fragile King

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The whole reaction towards Vallenfyre has certainly been interesting. At first introduced as a new signing to Century Media, the band went by otherwise unnoticed until it was pointed out the band is actually Paradise Lost guitarist Greg Mackintosh’s little side project, alongside members of My Dying Bride, Doom, At The Gates, and so forth. Suddenly everybody is interested, and eager to buy whatever the band are selling, because such names can’t possibly be associated with an average project. That’s perhaps a bit of a cynical way of looking at the band, but given the rave reactions to what is mostly a retro-side project, most could understand. A Fragile King is to an extent Mackintosh’s ode to his father who recently passed away, whilst the band pay homage to the more crusty doom-death of their past. As such there’s lots of slow and droning death such as My Black Siberia, mixed in with full on D-beat crust such as Cathedrals of Dread. This is all done with Greg’s ominous growl and an admittedly pretty cool droning guitar sound. It is faithfully retro, but that’s pretty much all it is. These forms of music to an extent have moved on, and there’s been plenty of examples of much better doom-death and crust, but done by less high-profile artists than those involved with this record. But that’s the reason this album, unsurprisingly, is getting attention – and whilst it certainly is a good album, and some retro-purists might love it purely for its nostalgic qualities, it doesn’t quite match its hype.

Written by James Donovan
More: 2011, Albums, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Quick.Play Reviews, Vallenfyre