VALDUR
Divine Cessation
Bloody Mountain Records
4/5
Death Metallers Valdur have returned with a deep and cavernous atmosphere, much like we’d expect from the California natives. This is the fifth one under their belts, proving that the band are dedicated to their craft. The disc is raw and frightening, filled with the kind of no nonsense death metal that tends to mix well with their bizarre usage of middle-eastern harmonies and slight electronic landscapes – both which are not a bad thing in my mind, at least. Instrumental cut “Doomed” shows the band mixing together doom riffs with a little bit of drone, while “Plague Born Of A Dying Star” shows that they haven’t completely given up on the black metal sound of their mid-era. The disc combines everything that we like about Valdur into a package that should suit all fans of brutal death metal and dark soundscapes as well as corpse-painted kvltists. Maybe. I’m still not so sure about that last one. Even so, there’ll be no complaints out of me on this one, as Solid is as solid does and Valdur prove that they’re still capable of making strong albums at this stage of the game. (The Grim Lord)