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Valborg: Crown of sorrow

24/01/11 || BigBoi

Usually when I’m finding it difficult to sleep at night, I set out on the task of listening to an entire album start to finish. In my bed. With the lights off. Completely naked. Due to either the sheer laboriousness of it (depending on the album) or me just getting naturally tired, I conk out after only a couple tracks. Now this is what usually happens, as very rarely have I actually had the attention or energy to complete a whole CD… Let’s just say I stayed wide fuckin’ awake the fateful night I chose Valborg’s “Crown of Sorrow” as a sleep aid.

It really chaps my ass when I see people excessively pigeonholing bands into neat genre labels. For the sake of our loyal GD readers, however, the only way I can really describe Valborg’s music is “atmospheric death metal with progressive touches and elements of doom and black metal”. As idiotic and overdrawn as that sounded, Valborg really is its own entity. Possessing members active in fellow German stalwarts Island and Klabautamann, Valborg’s newest full length (which seems to have passed by top 2010 lists relatively unnoticed) kicks some serious ass, despite its lack of proper coverage.

The key word here is atmosphere. “Crown of Sorrow” creates one like no other I’ve heard (or felt) before. Upon listening, my brain conjures images of a murky swamp shrouded in dense fog, shadows darting between the gnarled roots of trees being suffocated by the uninhabitable muck that spans as far as the eye can see. Actually, if you’ve ever seen The Never Ending Story everything I just described looks exactly like the “Swamp of Sadness” in the movie. That fucked up, depressing swamp that Artax drowns in, causing children everywhere to bawl their little eyes out. “Swamp of Sadness”/“Crown of Sorrow”: Coincidence? I think not! Valborg has created an eerie masterpiece fit to constantly remind us all exactly what happened in that swamp when we were 6 (I keep forgetting I’m still a child compared to most of the other staffers here).

This is a plodding album, staying within a mid-to-slow range tempo throughout. The band manages to work together in a way that I find brilliant; While nothing found here is complex per se, instruments don’t overshadow each other, but rather perform in unison to further push the music’s emotion deep into the listener’s subconscious. In Valborg’s case, less is definitely more. The uncanny vocals are a highlight, exemplifying depth and versatility in tracks like ‘Crying Under The Fortress Of God” and “Thunderbolt”, which range from unorthodox death growls to ghoulish spoken passages. The mood ebbs and flows from the beginning, alternating between heavier death metal parts, ambient-like instrumentals and even some good ol’ heavy metal. Valborg offers a brief respite towards the end with “Transcending the Sorrows of an Earth Unseen”, only to break into the 11 min. epic, “I Am Space”, with some crazy ass lyrics to boot.

I’m astounded by what these guys were able to dish out in only 35 min., although I find myself wishing “Crown of Sorrow” to be longer. I also would have liked to see more vocals within the songs, but being my first taste of Valborg’s strange brew of metal, I can’t deny that this is one hell of an album and definitely in the upper echelons of 2010 releases. If you, like me, prefer a proper display of emotive atmosphere and mood over technical prowess, “Crown of Sorrow” should satiate all your musical needs. If not, fuck off and go pleasure yourself to Necrophagist.

Information
Released: 2010
Label: Zeitgeister Music
Website: Valborg MySpace
Band
Jan Buckard: bass, vocals
Christian Kolf: guitars, vocals
Florian Toyka: drums

Tracklist
01. Wisdom From The Vortex
02. Ancient Horrors
03. Thunderbolt
04. Tristesse
05. Crying Under The Fortress Of God
06. Transcending The Sorrows Of An Earth Unseen
07. I Am Space
08. Saint Patrick’s Day

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