As the weather turns cold and frosty in some places, it is the perfect time for blistering Black Metal releases that deliver sheer rawness, brutality, and a mix of melody thrown in for good form. Today we have Finnish outfit Valravn and their crushing release “Prey”, which delivers over 40 minutes of in-your-face raw BM. Focusing on craftsmanship alongside relentless brutality, this band unleashes one of the most intense aural onslaughts of 2020. After a folky opener with “Awaken”, the band launches a full-on attack with the pummeling rawness of “Thrones of Blood”. Alongside furious riffs and intense drumming, the band nicely changes gears at times to deliver crafty oppressive atmospheric/melodic passages. With tracks like “Void” and “Conjuration” nicely blending styles and still being quite ravaging, it brings us back memories of old-school Norwegian BM at times. Having something for everybody, this release also features more traditional songs like the punishing “Evoke the Fire” and “Treachery” with its typical BM drumming and intense riffing. With a certain October Falls edge, the acoustic intro to “Illustratum” changes the pace of the release, and nicely provides a contrast to more furious onslaughts. Both “Enchained” and our favorite, “The Raven”, further showcase the band’s knack for melody alongside a healthy serving of headbanging sections. As a whole, “Prey” is one of those very versatile releases that is both crushing and yet delivers enough finesse to stand out from the rest. Filled with incisive guitarwork, crafty drumming, and hellish vocals, Valravn has managed to unleash one hell of a beast with this release. If you like your Black Metal to be frosty, melodic, and yet pummeling and in-your-face, this is the album for you.
"As a first musical product ‘Prey’ is of good quality, it will now be up to them to continue to improve and make space for themselves in the underground music scene and then possibly worldwide" by Ramon Dunkelheit
Valravn’s debut album no doubt displays characteristics of Finland’s now-world-renown black metal sound – cryogenic melody, raw ‘n’ rugged execution, an unapologetic assertion of traditionalism – but in other, more telling aspects, Prey asserts its own identity counter to this prevailing paradigm.
The debut album from this new Finnish outfit aspires to the non-stop intensity of Dawn’s ‘Slaughtersun’, but finds itself short on the momentum required to maintain this for a full length release. As a result they dial back the taught, precision riffcraft of their Swedish forebears in favour of a more folky, homey approach to supplement the high drama typical of this style. But to their credit, this is presented as no mere compromise, but finds itself neatly knitted into the sweeping, epic narratives that Valravn aspire to, as exhibited on tracks like ‘The Raven’, and the acoustic intro and outro that bookend the album.
Production is par-for-the-course for this style, with guitars in their rightful place dominating the mix. Bass cuts through, but not distractingly so, acting as a presence rather than a melodic entity in itself. Drums adopt a similar role, underpinning all with forensic timing and artistic expression that works in unison with the instrumental centrepieces. Vocals are an interesting concoction of hardcore stylings aspiring to fill the black metal shoes they have been forced to wear on ‘Prey’. Whilst this is not outlandish – the line between traditional black metal vocal technics and hardcore is much closer than many would have you believe – it immediately strikes the ear on first listen as an unusual creative choice for a style with such rigid parameters of technique.
Whilst Dawn strung out longform narratives from riff collections defined by their economy of notes, Valravn supplement this approach with pockets of smaller riffs and refrains articulated through lead melodies as opposed to the architecture of tremolo picking. The breakneck intensity is further supplemented by slower numbers such as ‘Conjuration’, which avoids the utter tedium that a lot of black metal is prone to when it sinks below 80bpm, with a good dollop of rhythmic shuffles and melodic articulation.
The realm of melodic blackened death metal has become a surprisingly crowded field in recent years. Surprising due to the subtleties that lurk at its heart. Superficially, it’s a samey, homogenous sonic colour palette, defined by highly formalised and ultimately limited compositional techniques. And whilst it’s certainly true that the style takes a certain headspace to fully absorb, it’s also true that there are few misses and many hits. Of course the heady days of ‘Far Away From the Sun’ and ‘Slaughtersun’ are probably far behind us, but albums like ‘Prey’ offer a reasonable simulation. Like a Wagnerian opera, the level of concentration required, aligning the rhythm of our thought processes with that of the music drains the intellect as much as it nourishes the spirit. But many promising worlds await those able and willing to commit, with potentialities far outstripping many of its sister genres for technical as well as artistic expression.
Sample:
&t=946s
