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Blacker Than - A haunting acoustic guitar intro sets the mood to the album opener Blacker Than. The rest of the band then launches its attack, Vocalist Reece Deeter howling and a plinking piano joins the fray. Blast beats and tremolo picked guitar attacks follow, Deeter's vocals leading the march, backed by Alan Parades' masterful bass playing and the ballistic madness of Eric Brown's drumming. The guitarists switch masterfully between complex riffing and blistering speed. A nice little bass break signals a breakdown into a show of technical prowess from all members leading into the first guitar solo of the album. The second lead section complements black metal influenced blast beats and screeched vocals from Deeter to close out the track.
A Nightmare Phantasm - The band begins its assault immediately on A Nightmare Phantasm, the guitars clashing and the rhythm section keeping them in line, allowing Reece's vocals to really shine on this track. The black metal influence is clear in his style, also taking influence from classic death metal. The riffs are insane and technical without feeling like showboating, everything serves the purpose of adding to the musicality of the track. Dissonance is used well before the lead guitar comes in and flashes a little solo before the song ends.
Klendathu - A beautiful piano intro that sounds like it would be on constant loop in Dracula's manor makes way for Brown to lay down some steady drumming. The guitars come in before everything explodes as Reece takes the mic, the song winding and meandering but never getting too far off track. The lead is blistering and masterfully executed, leading into a nice heavy break, the drums punctuating the stabs of the guitar and Deeter's howled vocals.
The Horror in Clay - A pounding drum fill opens up the next track, the guitars entering and intertwining, before a mini bass solo leads into the verse. The complexity of Vale of Pnath's songwriting is evident throughout each song, but instead of feeling masturbatory it stands on its own as an extremely solid and groovy sounding album with nothing out of place. The instrumental breaks are used to great effect, breaking up the speed and intensity well.
Reaver - A speeding tremolo picked guitar intro makes way for big open chords and a wall of sound from Eric's drumming combined with the growls of Deeter. The riffs all flow together well, and the use of start-stop rhythms give the track a bouncing feel. The breakdown in the middle of the song showcases more black metal influence from Deeter's vocals and the lush, atmospheric background instrumentation. This is probably my favorite from the album, it showcases perfectly the feel of the album and the wonderful musicianship of Vale of Pnath. The bass break forces you to make the Meshuggah face and rock back and forth, then the blistering twin guitars launch into a ripping solo.
Heart of Darkness - An organ piece reminiscent of Mr. Crowley opens the track, leading into blast beat-laden technical riffing and deep growls. The guitars work together to command the attention of the listener while Reece spits some absolutely disgusting sounding vocals over the insanity of the bass riffage and technical prowess of Brown's drumming. The sudden stop at the end of the song leads well into the next track.
The Serpent's Lair - Bass and drums come together to pump you full of adrenaline before the rest of the band kick it into gear. The instrumental breaks are complemented well by organ/piano accompaniment and the shrill shrieking rounds it all out. Complex rhythms showcase technicality while the guitar riffs blow over the top of it, demanding respect, the vocals calling to mind images of dark cultists gathering supplies for a sacrifice. The heaviest breakdown of the album follows, a ghostly choir backing it up for extra punch. A jazzy drum and guitar break follow, accompanied by more piano and choir. The song ends with an evil sounding chord that glitches and fades out.
Unburied - The album's closer, and longest track of the album clocks in at 7:39. It starts off a little calmer than we're used to from the rest of the album, but quickly picks up again as Reece launches into an impossibly long and haunted sounding scream. The guitars lay down driving riffs leading into big grand sounding chords, then switch to a more straightforward technical riffing approach, the drums blasting along. An upbeat sounding guitar break follows a blistering verse, all instruments coming together for one last display of technical ability and musicianship. The last chord echoes out into the end of the album, one last punch to the mouth fading out.
Overall this was one of the greatest albums to come out this year so far, Vale of Pnath popped up on my Discover Weekly playlist from Spotify several months ago and Vale of Pnath I and The Prodigal Empire have both been in heavy rotation ever since. I highly recommend diving into their whole discography.
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