Rating: 9/10
Release: 14 March 2025
Label: Rockshot Records

Vallorch are back with a new album called “The Circle”, released by Rockshots Records on the 14th of March. This album shows the evolution of Vallorch, confirming them as a powerful force in the symphonic folk metal scene, mixing in their new sound folk elements with symphonic grandeur and emotional depth. Their debut album, “Neverfade”, introduced folk melodies combined with heavy death metal influences that resulted in the intricate and experimental arrangements of their second album “Until our Tale Is Told”.

Speaking of the music, “The Circle” represents a new era for the band’s sound, which turns out to be cohesive and more mature, with an excellent balance of melody, rhythm and atmosphere.
This new album revolves around the theme of the night, exploring its dualities such as loneliness and connection (or introspection) and celebration. This can be found in tracks like “Circle of the Moon”, which turns out as an invitation to the listener to embrace freedom and joy, and “Dyssomnia” that, with its 9 minutes length, gets into darker and more complex moods. On this album there’s also space for tracks like “Drink Some More!”, a very ballable track, a song that lends itself very well to the pogo from tavern, and “Salbanéo”, the funniest track of the album (which will be your favorite) with also the classic “gnegnegnegnegnegne” done on guitar present in certain moments of the track. The album’s soundscape is very varied and ranges from pompous orchestrations to more festive elements of folk, fusing symphonic metal perfectly with the energies of folk traditions and thus managing to give back to the listener a rich and very engaging listening experience offering very memorable melodies, also thanks to the epic arrangements present in this new album. As for the lyrics, in “The Circle” the band draws on multiple Cimbrian myths and alpine folklore, weaving stories that resonate both personally and
universally.

In conclusion, with “The Circle” Vallorch have enhanced their music, both musically and for the arrangements, thus creating a great album, which could be called clean and captivating, even from an emotional point of view. Each track is designed to shine both on its own and in listening to the entire album

Tracklist

1. To The Silver Summit
2. Hellpath
3. Circle of the Moon
4. Drink Some More!
5. Antermoia
6. Röte Löon
7. Salbanéo
8. The Wild One
9. Dyssomnia