Vallorch - Neverfade
It occurs to me that we bandy about the term folk metal to describe a style of music derived from Norwegian black metal and Swedish melodic death metal that incorporates melodies, instrumentation and lyrics derived from ancestral legacy, but the country whose folkloric heritage is being drawn from is treated as a perfunctory concern at best. Germans draw on Scottish subject matter, Americans draw on Scandinavian subject matter, the Romanians, Russians and Icelanders pretty much do their own thing, it all gets lumped together under the generic heading of folk metal, and these myriad nationalities all go on the Heidenfest tour together. For instance; the name Vallorch is taken from the name of a Cimbrian village in Italy, and a quick Google search of the song title “Anguana” reveals that the name has its origins in Italian iconography. For 99 out of 100 listeners to Neverfade, the significance of these terms will be lost; they’ll see the muddy-and-shirtless band pics lifted straight from Ensiferum’s portfolio or hear the merry, accordion-laced melodies, and assume Vallorch are yet another contender looking to throw their hat into the ring with Finntroll and Korpiklaani (which, in fairness, they are). I wonder if we metal fans haven’t done away with the need for authenticity altogether and created a kind of consensual, quasi-fictitious heritage populated exclusively by proud warriors cavorting around the woods slathered in war paint. I don’t necessarily suppose there’s anything wrong with that, but it’s food for thought.
As to the album itself? Yeah, it’s alright. It brooks comparison to Huldre’s Intet Menneskebarn, another recent folk metal debut to which I had a lukewarm, albeit basically positive, reaction. Vallorch lack Huldre’s exemplary lead female vocal performance, but do an altogether better job at creating fizzy, infectious melodies, so it more or less evens out. Vallorch’s take on folk metal belongs to the bawdy, carnival-esque style derived from Finntroll and their ilk, where up-tempo, minor-key riffs jostle for position with fluttering accordion refrains and bagpipes. Harsh vocals are barked out in tones that don’t so much evoke demonic apparitions as they do weathered wanderers huddled around a campfire. These alternate in and out of prominence together with the clean female vocals provided by Sara Tacchetto with a high, reedy lilt — an appealing if not particularly technically accomplished performance.
Alternation is key to this album. Guitars and accordions, harsh and clean vocals, fast and slow tempos all commingle, with the band switching between freely and easily, one never being allowed to establish dominance over the other. The songs exist in a state of constant flux, a celebration of transience and ephemera. Vallorch represent a take on folk metal that is, in a sense, quite the opposite of that practised by the likes of Finsterforst and Moonsorrow. While those bands’ towering compositions are designed from the ground up to elicit a sense of massive, pivotal import, Vallorch’s songs are breezy and effervescent, melodies and hooks seguing in and out with little fanfare either way.
As a result, Neverfade occurs as a minor entry in the genre, an accomplished but cursory effort without any aspirations toward being revelatory or transcendent. Your mileage may vary on whether this is a valid aesthetic mission – I think it is – but even considered as an album whose pleasures are intended to be fleeting, Neverfade isn’t without its flaws. The production is rather flat and dry, for one thing, with a distracting emphasis on the loud and clanky bass. For another, the folk instrumentation often feels more intrusive than appropriate – an instance that particularly sticks out is the use of jaunty accordions in “Endless Hunt” that just don’t jibe with the straightforward, up-tempo metal riffing.
Still, it’s an amicable record that remains entertaining throughout and switches things up enough to engage for its 50-minute running time. Not a record I imagine anyone but the most committed folk metal completionists will be returning to in the years to come, but it gets the job done while it’s playing, and for their debut album, Vallorch don’t shame themselves.
copas from http://heathenharvest.org/2013/05/31/vallorch-neverfade/
Tracklist:
01) Night Fades
02) Voices of North
03) Join the Dance!
04) Fialar
05) Endless Hunt
06) Sylvan Oath
07) Storiele
08) Silence Oblivion
09) Anguana
10) Leave a Whisper
11) The End
12) …A New Light Rises
TKP
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