Coming at its beguiling brand of blackened death metal with what feels like as much reverence for Emperor and Paradise Lost as Morbid Angel, long-running Modena, Italy quartet Valgrind hit a new high-water mark on Seal of Phobos, a diverse, assured slab of extreme metal full of deftly executed heavy riffage, pitch-black atmospherics, and hairpin turns.
“Seal Of Phobos is not exactly a concept EP, but it follows the path started with [2016 full-length] Speech of The Flame, focusing on the mythology and history of ancient Mediterranean civilizations, battles, and darkest funeral rituals,” vocalist/bassist Daniele Lupidi tells Decibel. “Musically, it’s our most straightforward, brutal material — without forgetting the melodic touches and solos that have always been part of our sound.”
We’ve got an exclusive stream of the epic new EP — which drops this Friday — below. Preorder the physical and digital copies from Everlasting Spew here and here, respectively.
