AN NCS PREMIERE: VALGRIND — “VICTORIOUS”

 

Last year we had the fiendish pleasure of premiering two tracks off the Seal of Phobos EP by the Italian death metal band Valgrind. That was a remarkably multifaceted EP that succeeded on multiple levels, but it still may not be adequate preparation for what the band have accomplished on their new third album, Blackest Horizon, which will be released by Everlasting Spew Records on May 25th. But the song we’re presenting today provides a better sign — one that blazes like some widescreen neon billboard flashing with a thousand colors.

This new song is named “Victorious“, and it is indeed victorious — a kaleidoscopic aural experience that’s hallucinatory, heart-pounding, mind-bending, savage, and exuberant to the point of madness.

 

 

The song is a high-speed rush of technically impressive and devilishly inventive instrumental performances. It manages to be brutal as well as head-spinning, thanks in part to some really nasty vocals, flurries of head-hammering rhythm work, and doses of grim, brooding riffage. But it’s far from your typical death metal brutality. There are turn-on-a-dime tempo changes, loads of fast-twitch fret-work and changing tonalities, eye-blurring drum assaults, bursts of vibrant melodic fanfares, and a guitar solo so unhinged that it might roll the eyes back in your head.

When you hear it, you might better understand my use of the word “madness”, but I don’t mean to suggest that the music is some kind of chaotic mess. Valgrind are a well-oiled machine, tightly integrated in what they’re doing, and if you’re like me you’ll find this song still singing in your head like a siren after it’s over, despite how wild a trip it is.

 

 

The eye-catching cover art was created by Valgrind member Daniele Lupidi. Everlasting Spew will offer the album stand-alone, and in some very attractive bundles. For pre-orders, check the links below.

TRACK LIST:
1 Victorious
2 Sunken Temple of Initiated
3 Third and Last
4 The Blackest Horizon
5 Sacrificial Journey
6 The Empire Burns
7 The Fist
8 Last Angel (Into the unknown)
9 Last Angel (The Psychonaut)
10 Last Angel (Hades Horseman)

Pre-order:
https://everlastingspew.com/

Valgrind:
https://www.facebook.com/valgrindband
https://valgrindband.bandcamp.com