DAMNATION ANGELS – The Valiant Fire (2015)
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Released today, “The Valiant Fire” is the brand new album by UK symphonic melodic metallers DAMNATION ANGELS. If you don’t know them, Damnation Angels put so much lavish ‘film score orchestration’ into their sympho metal, trying to redefine the genre sounds.
And let me tell you, they are truly original and much more interesting than bigger names in this style.
The symphonic layer is THE thing in this band, the single element that defines their sound and their arrangements.
Damnation Angels’ massive and bombastic symphonic metal is plenty of melody, pomp and progressive elements. The powerful vocal performance from fantastic Norwegian singer PelleK – who possesses a super wide tone scale in his vocal cords, polishes their melodious music into almost perfection.
“The Valiant Fire” is quite epic yet accessible, and every single song is unique and it’s like a journey into a dark thrilling fairytale world.
All sounds pretty cool and rather impressive for the simple reason that, though the symphonic layer is larger than life, all things blend together really well. Two good examples are “The Icarus Syndrome” and “This Is Who We Are” where the orchestration combines with the guitar line and rhythm section to a seamless whole.
Alternatively, within “Everlasting” the wall of sharp riffs command nearly the entire direction of the song. The orchestration appears as accent, though a rather large one.
On “Within Fire Inside”, particularly in the latter half, the riffage and orchestration seem play off each like tag team wrestlers. And all win.
The giant “The Frontiersman” is another amazing song. It starts slow and calm with the delicious voice of PelleK (very clean) and grows into a symphonic metal gold bar in the middle. Galloping pace and the clear, high vocals electrify all your senses.
The progressive “‘Closure” also starts quietly, but accelerates after a while, and the track has a lot of mega-heavy guitar riffs. Pompous and big. Another strong song is the glimmering ballad “The Passing” with magnificent vocals and subtle orchestration.
Closing number “Under An Ancient Sun” is a highlight, perhaps the best track on the CD. A sensational composition with heavy guitars, progressive colors, complex rhythms, bombastic drumming, majestic keys and shining vocals. A superb cut.
“The Valiant Fire” is all rather lavish and overwhelming, in the best sense. Damnation Angels wants their sympho to sound different and they success. And they do it without female operatic vocals. Now that’s a good thing.
Original in this genre and knowing how to cross musical borders – this combined with a great production – Damnation Angels deserves my compliments.
Very, very good stuff.
01 – Finding Requiem
02 – Icarus Syndrome
03 – This Is Who We Are
04 – The Frontiersman
05 – Closure
06 – The Passing
07 – Everlasting
08 – The Fire Inside
09 – Under An Ancient Sun
PelleK – lead and backing ocals
John Graney – drums, percussion
Will Graney – guitars, bass, keyboards, synth orchestration, backing vocals
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www.emp-online.com/art_298419/
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