Vale – Burden of Sight (Review)

Vale are a black metal band from the US and this is their debut album.

Featuring current and ex-members of bands such as Abstracter, Lycus, Tombs, and Void Omnia, you know there’s a wealth of experience here before you even press play.

The band give us 33 minutes of grim black metal mixed in with elements of crust and some lashings of death metal. This is modern American black metal that takes from the parent style what it wants and then injects the other influences into the twitching corpse. Energised by crust dynamics and beefed up by the occasional death metal guitar part, Burden of Sight is an album that’s been well-constructed and put-together by people that obviously know what they are doing.

The music’s blackened melodies are very moreish, and the drums have a satisfying feel to them. The music is well-presented in all ways, production-wise and aesthetically, but the quality of the songwriting brings everything up to a superior level. The songs have clearly been crafted with thought, and with emotive presence in mind. There are only six tracks here, but each one is worth hearing and brings something of its own to the party.

The vocals are high-pitched blackened screams that seem to be capable of cutting with their serrated bite. The singer’s delivery is sharp and venomous, and her voice is the perfect shade of harsh to accompany music like this.

This is a very strong debut album, as you’d expect from the people involved. It didn’t have to turn out as well as this though, and it’s testament to the skills of the band members that Burden of Sight is as effective and as enjoyable as it is.

Very highly recommended.