VALRAVN
The Awakening

An otherwise-new entity, Valravn nevertheless evince a mastery beyond their short time as a band with their first public recording, the full-length Prey. Arriving very fully formed, Valravn's debut album no doubt displays characteristics of Finland's now-world-renown black metal sound - cryogenic melody, raw 'n' rugged execution, an unapologetic assertion of traditionalism - but in other, more telling aspects, Prey asserts its own identity counter to this prevailing paradigm.

Valravn truly sound like a band, as in four individuals playing together in the same room rather than the usual copy/paste practices used by so many studio-only "bands." This very tangible physicality bleeds over into the overall emotion of Prey, whereby the listener can literally FEEL every note...and every note is vital, virile, vivid. Of course, Valravn are a black metal band, and black metal by definition is monochromatic, but that vividness is writ large across the album's eight central tracks, each one as cutting 'n' concise as the next. As such, Prey feels a lot larger than it should, for the band pack in an almost-cresting sense of the epic into these tight 'n' taut tracks.

An otherwise-new entity, Valravn nevertheless evince a mastery beyond their short time as a band with their first public recording, the full-length Prey. Arriving very fully formed, Valravn's debut album no doubt displays characteristics of Finland's now-world-renown black metal sound - cryogenic melody, raw 'n' rugged execution, an unapologetic assertion of traditionalism - but in other, more telling aspects, Prey asserts its own identity counter to this prevailing paradigm.

Valravn truly sound like a band, as in four individuals playing together in the same room rather than the usual copy/paste practices used by so many studio-only "bands." This very tangible physicality bleeds over into the overall emotion of Prey, whereby the listener can literally FEEL every note...and every note is vital, virile, vivid. Of course, Valravn are a black metal band, and black metal by definition is monochromatic, but that vividness is writ large across the album's eight central tracks, each one as cutting 'n' concise as the next. As such, Prey feels a lot larger than it should, for the band pack in an almost-cresting sense of the epic into these tight 'n' taut tracks.

Tellingly titled, The Awakening displays yet more sides to this still-unfolding entity. To be sure, Valravn's poise and power are firmly accounted for here - you can still FEEL every note, so vital, virile, and vivid - and they've even added a bit of death metalled muscle, too, but the songwriting itself is where their second album truly takes flight. Sharp and yet never sterile, thanks to a production that's on the right side of polished, there's an acute balance of contrasts across The Awakening's 44-minute runtime; each of the album's eight songs features some twist of melancholy and militancy, of bursting color and bristling monochromatism, of stoic resignation and steadfast determination, of man-on-the-mountain spaciousness and stuck-in-the-catacombs claustrophobia. Concluding with the literally breathtaking "Charge of the Last Cavalry," The Awakening consolidates all the strengths of its predecessor and indeed leads Valravn into a new charge for glory.