Labels: Relapse
Review by: Alex Deller
Been tracking Valkyrie’s flight for a few years now, and it’s heartening to see them pop up on a label like Relapse. ‘Shadows’ isn’t so much a progression as a refinement of what they’ve produced to date: big, brilliant rock music that splices trad doom a la Pentagram or Trouble with the heavy metal classicism of Manilla Road and the fiddly guitar heroics of Iron Maiden. While the playing’s first-rate and the whole album’s expertly constructed the simple underlying factor is the joy with which everything’s delivered – you just can’t help but feel gladdened by each striding riff or ebullient battle cry that soars forth from the speakers. While I could easily wax lyrical til my laptop battery runs cold I think I’ll just sign this one off simply and bluntly by stating that this is basically a bloody great metal record full of bloody great songs – what else really needs to be said?