Fear, Emptiness, Decibel: Stream the New Vallenfyre Flexi Disc!!!

Before there were blogs there were these things called magazines, and the only metal magazine we still get excited about reading every month is Decibel. Here’s managing editor Andrew Bonazelli…

Last week, Ben Falgoust of the mighty Goatwhore graced the MetalSucks Podcast and gave extremely extreme props to Vallenfyre’s sophomore album Splinters, which just dropped on Tuesday. You can sample the whole thing at the Deciblog before you buy, and it should take roughly five minutes—around when the rabid leadoff sprint of “Scabs” decays into the righteous doom lurch of “Bereft”—before you take Falgoust’s sage advice and bust out your wallet. The U.K. supergroup boasts members of At the Gates, My Dying Bride and Paradise Lost, and—bolstered with exceptionally tasteful and modern production by Kurt Ballou—they sound like the most ferocious amalgam of those parts imaginable. So, it was a no-brainer including Vallenfyre in the Decibel Flexi Series.

Their staggering, ripping original, “The Great Divide” (appearing on gold on black plastic), will be one of two flexis included in the forthcoming July issue, alongside a new jam from cover stars Eyehategod. Vallenfyre’s new jam was recorded specifically for the Flexi Series, also with Ballou. What frontman Gregor Mackintosh (of PL) told us was pretty damn accurate: “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 … We want to create a sound that doesn’t exist.” Judge for yourself how close Vallenfyre have come to accomplishing that last part. 

Stay tuned the next couple weeks—we have a huge announcement about the band on deck! In the mean time, there are an ultra-limited number of issues available with the Vallenfyre and Eyehategod flexis available in the dB webstore. Order now and double your misery.

The July 2014 issue of Decibel features Eyehategod, Arch Enemy, and Agalloch, and can be purchased here… but if you don’t just get a full subscription, you may receive a very unpleasant visit from Ben Falgoust. Just warnin’ ya.