- Country: United Kingdom
- Style: Death metal / Doom metal
- Label: Century Media
- Release date: 12 May 2014
Gregor Mackintosh started Vallenfyre to deal with his father’s death, and Splinters sounds like the grief has curdled into pure anger. This one is rawer and meaner than the debut, with Kurt Ballou’s production giving the guitars a crusty, overdriven bite that owes more to Swedish death metal and English crust than to Paradise Lost.
“Scabs” opens like a fist to the face, and “Odious Bliss” keeps the speed while Mackintosh, on vocals as well as lead guitar, roars like he’s been waiting years to do it. Adrian Erlandsson drums with a punk urgency, and Hamish Glencross’s rhythm guitar doubles everything into a solid wall. The title track closes the album with a slow, funereal march – the moment the doom roots return, and the best song here.
Not every track sticks; a few in the middle are interchangeable. But as a blast of honest, unpretentious extreme metal from veterans who clearly needed to make it, it’s hard to argue with.
Best tracks:
Splinters
Scabs
Odious Bliss
Author’s rating: 7.9/10
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