Valgrind - Blackest Horizon (EN)

Well, Valgrind was original founded in 1993 but broke up in 2003 just to reunion in 2008. Since then the longplayers "Morning Will Come No More" (2012), "Speech Of The Flame" (2016) as well as the EP "Seal Of Phobos" (2017) have been released.

You've got to hand it to Valdgrind. They definitely sound different than normal Death Metal bands.
Of course the base is true Old School Death but Valgrind offers a variety of dark melodies that drift a bit off towards Melodic Death. Just listen to "Third And Last" because here such melodies get together in one song with short solos like Morbid Angel and real banging. It sounds quite fancy.

The guitarists play often short sequences of notes besides the typical and permanent fast riffs. One can hear it in "Sacrifical Journey". It also reminds of Morbid Angel or Nocturnus. Especially the keyboard parts, which are not integrated in the song directly but rather occur in the beginning or in the end of the song, indicate the latter comparison. A sinister atmosphere arises in this way and it echoes through the whole album.
The drums hammer through both Blastbeasts and D-Beat paired with solemn passages. It sounds a bit muffled but contributes the dark overall mood. And whenever consistently great growls join awesome melodies like in "The Empire Burns". it slightly stirs a headbanger's blood.

Above all the whole thing doesn't sound arbitrary but rather send a chill down the listener's spine. It is not too easy to listen to. And when "The Blackest Horizon" bores nastily through the ears, one sometimes doesn't know if the whole thing is good or not. However, everybody can play nice! The last three songs have all the same name but don't get musically out of hand and likely they are linked by the lyrics.

Conclusion:
In some way it is an awesome horrible album. It is like one cannot look away while watching a horror movie, you cannot stop listening here. Maybe the goal of the Band has been achieved. It is not a every day album but you can listen to it every now and then.

Rating: 7,5/10

Recommendation: The Empire Burns