Rating: 8/10
Release: 24 May 2024
Label: Independent

Valfreya is a four-member Canadian blackened folk metal band with some symphonic elements. There are two amazing guest musicians for the album, which is their fifth, counting acoustic releases. It’s a concept album, and that really shines through in parts, but is easy to get lost in others when vocals get guttural and intense.

All of the songs have death metal style changes throughout, so even longer tracks have lots of twists and turns and never feel as long as they are. Anyone who reads my reviews knows that I’m partial to bands singing in multiple languages, and this treats us to English and French. The instruments are well balanced– great rat-tat-tat metal drumming under violins and guitars. Harsh French vocals in some tracks invite comparisons to Aephanemer, but the song structures and production have more differences than similarities.

The tracks, themselves, are a great mix. “Dawn of Reckoning” introduces us to Hel in a brassy mostly-instrumental track before dumping us into “The Rise”. The Rise has a great intro that I missed a few minutes into the track. “Warcry” is another lively track that needs a better-defined warcry. I like elements of it, but, by definition, a warcry is something everyone can get together and chant. On the other hand, “The Fate” starts with some melancholy violin and has some neat rhythmic and melodic parts. By “The Fall”, we remember that this is a concept album. The vocals vacillate in terms of intelligibility, but it’s pretty easy to determine the mood.

The album ends on “Reus Es”, and it closes the door in a big, slower-moving track. It’s a great contrast to “Dawn of Reckoning”, and there are some big, epic choral moments. The whole album is slick and well-produced, and an absolute blast to hear. The concept of the album is a bit fast and loose, and I didn’t catch much of it, but this is a candidate for listening with the liner notes closeby. Valfreya has their sound and style perfectly refined at this point, and this is an album that’s worth spinning a few times and getting lost in its lore. Cheers!

Tracklist

1. Dawn of Reckoning 01:56
2. The Rise 05:55
3. Warcry 05:52
4. The Fate 04:10
5. The Fall 05:22
6. Equilibrium 08:31
7. The Fallen Kings 05:02
8. A New Era 05:11
9. Le Périple 04:44
10. Reus es 06:14