The Bottom Line
Pros
- Crisp production.
- Smart move in eliminating the acoustic parts/interludes present on their debut album.
- Longer songs and a more pointed black metal attack that varies from mid-paced to blistering fast.
Cons
- A few of the later tracks plod on excessively.
- Another quick-paced track or two like “Welcoming Worms” would have balanced the album better.
Description
- Released January 19th, 2010 on Metal Blade Records.
- Valkyrja’s second album.
- First album of new material since signing with Metal Blade.
Guide Review - Valkyrja - 'Contamination'
The acoustic elements and interludes that placated The Invocation Of Demise are stripped away in favor of longer songs set in a darker tone. Melody is almost nonexistent, replaced by a crushing tsunami of unfiltered buzz-saw riffs and contempt for everything in sight.
Valkyrja took the blueprints of songs “Sinister Obsession” and “Purification And Demise” off their first album to compose songs with an emphasis on variety. The sudden shifts between mid-paced and speedy tempos are the catalysts for the majority of songs on Contamination. These quick changes help to accentuate a bleak atmosphere that is given weight by the instrumental work.
More often than not, the songs are fueled by the instrumental work alone. Long periods without vocals are common, especially with extended intros and outros. In these instances, the guitars are used for soaring lead work and slightly melodic solos that help to break the monotony of endless tremolo picking. When the vocals do come into play, the harsh rasps retain their clear pitch and easy-to-understand rhetoric from the first album.
With Valkyrja stretching out the length of their songs, the need for variety is vastly important. This is an issue that works against the band at some points. When the band stays around the five-minute mark, like on blistering opener “Oceans To Dust” and the catchy “Laments Of The Destroyed,” everything is fine.
It’s when the band attempts broadly epic material that things go awry. “A Cursed Seed In The World” plods on for almost eight minutes with nothing to show for it but wicked double bass drum work. The bluesy closer “The Adversarial Incentive Within All” is the only ambitious winner, coming off like a cross between Glorior Belli and latter-day Immortal.
Contamination makes many huge leaps forward from Valkyra’s debut album, including a harsher metal assault and crisper production. Taking away the Opeth-ish influences was a smart move, as it helped the band in crafting their own sound. There are a few clinks in the armor, including the band’s tendency to stretch out songs to the creative brink of no return.
Clocking in at nearly an hour long, Contamination will wear out even the most die-hard fans of the genre, but Valkyrja has the right ideas in place of how to reinvent themselves to compete amongst the long list of up-and-comers in black metal.
