I loved Valkyrja’s debut album so after discovering its recent re-issue by Metal Blade in all its visceral Swedish black metal glory, I was very much looking forward to tracking down this, their 2nd album. And, as if the Metal Gods themselves were listening in, the MP3 winged its way to me via the unmerciful power of the intarweb so I could create a masterpiece of a review to caress your eyeballs (yes, YOU) with my glowing and loving words.
So, its funny how things don’t always work out how you expect then, as not only is this review far from a masterpiece, but I found ‘Contamination’ to be far from being in the same league as their debut. It’d be a bit mean of me to suggest the band suffered from ‘2nd album syndrome’, as there is definitely some good material on display here, it just… doesn’t ASSAULT me like their debut did. There’s a lot of similarities on the surface veneer of ’Contamination’, the occasional Marduk-like blasting passages, eerie melodies ringing out cleanly from speedy tremolo riffage and the odd spate of crawling Watain styled unwholesomeness. However, as an overall package, something this time just seems that little bit too clean for my palate.
There’s a definite (if not extremely hard to spot upon the first few listens) style change in the song compositions that make them that little bit more easier to swallow for mass consumption. OK, it IS very small (we’re not talking a horrifying Striborg to Dimmu Borgir styled change here) but it’s definitely there if you listen carefully. Their debut was packed with riffs galore, whereas this seems to be packed with carefully structured melodic arrangements amongst the carnage. It’s hard to describe in words, but none-the-less, it’s that little je ne sais quoi that made all the difference for me.
Anyway, I don’t want to be completely negative, because as I mentioned before there is still some worthy material here (The Womb of Disease is by far my favour track here, it slays, it’s speedy, it’s BITTER – I love it). It just seems that a big chunk of the album seems to be aimed for more ‘catchy, melody loving’ ears than these miserable busted lumps of meat I have tacked either side of my head.
http://www.myspace.com/valkyrjaswe
