Monday, April 9, 2012

Valkiria/Upon This Earth/2009 CD Review


  Valkiria are a band from Italy that has a few of their albums reviewed in this zine with a musical style that mixes gothic/doom metal with melodic black metal and this is a review of their self released 2009 album "Upon This Earth".

Drums are all slow playing with no fast drumming or blast beats, while the keyboards bring in a very dark, atmospheric and gothic sound to the music, as for the bass playing it has a very strong and powerful tone with gothic rock riffs that dominate throughout the recording.

Rhythm guitars are all slow gothic/doom metal riffs abandoning the melodic black metal influences of the previous efforts with a good amount of instrumentals being used on this recording, while the lead guitars are very melodic sounding gothic metal/rock guitar solos and leads, as for the acoustic guitars they use finger picking to add to the darkness that is coming out of the music.

Vocals a re all clean singing with some whispers on this recording with no death metal growls or black metal screams that where present on the early material, while the lyrics cover dark, depressing and esoteric themes, as for the production it has a very strong, powerful and professional sound where you can hear all of the musical instruments that are present on this recording.

In my opinion this is another great album from Valkiria which shows them going into a pure gothic metal/rock direction as well as showcasing their musical talents and if you are a fan of this style, you should check out this album. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "Break The Silence" "Gods Of The Sun" "Prophecies" and "Tears". RECOMMENDED BUY.

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