“[Splinters] is taking everything from The Fragile King and pushed it to the extremes in every direction,” says Vallenfyre’s Gregor Mackintosh. “There are songs that are more doom oriented, like funeral doom. There are really fast songs, too. We had paid homage to our influences on the last record. This one has a lot of different stuff on it. There’s no point to making another The Fragile King. We want to create a sound that doesn’t exist.”
Fans of dirty, dingy Swed-death will surely pick up on the reverse influences as well as the inherent early Paradise Lost-isms on Splinters however, but kudos to Mackintosh for thinking outside the box a bit. Produced by Converge studio wiz-kid Kurt Ballou, Splinters is heavy, dense, violent, yet despondent and reflective. In fact, it’s the very kind of record Mackintosh made when he was a young one, only this time he’s older, more experienced, and full of the world pissing down on him. Or maybe that’s ale–his new favorite beverage–raining in torrents upon the six-stringer cum vocalist.
Well, before we tout our own horns–two of them, actually–and tell you Vallenfyre committed an unreleased song (from the Splinters sessions) to our celebrated Flexi Series called “The Great Divide”, maybe it’s time to jam some new Vallenfyre. Yes, the entire album! Let’s drown in odious bliss!
NOTE: the Soundcloud player has a scrollbar. Hidden, of course.
** Vallenfyre’s new album, Splinters, is out May 13th on Century Media Records. Killer product combos are available HERE. Click the link or else we’ll send you 100 copies of Ace of Base’s The Sign. Don’t tempt us.
