Valkyrie have been a band in waiting for a long time. Founded circa 2002 in Harrisonburg, Virginia, by brothers Jake and Pete Adams — both on guitar/vocals — the band made their self-titled debut (discussed here) in 2006 and followed it with Man of Two Visions (discussed here) in 2008. Both records readily ingratiated them to the Chesapeake heavy underground, and as Harrisonburg is located farther west, out in the Shenandoah Valley just east of the Monongahela National Forest, the organic feel of their sound in those early days seemed especially well earned and was a distinguishing factor from the harder disillusioned edge of working class D.C. doom. Valkyrie took a back seat as Pete Adams joined Baroness in 2008 and set about full-time touring/recording, etc., but they signed to Relapse Records ahead of 2015’s Shadows (review here) and with that awaited third outing gave listeners a reminder of the dynamic between the two brothers that helped make them such a distinct outfit in the first place.

With Alan Fary (Earthling) on bass and Warren Hawkins drumming as a returning rhythm section, the four-piece set about Fear as the first Valkyrie long-player to arrive following the end of Pete‘s tenure in the aforementioned Baroness — he still plays in Samhain and Razors in the Night, so far as I know — and a decidedly mature dual-guitar take on heavy rock worthy of Valkyrie‘s near 20 years as a group. The album runs a manageable eight tracks/43 minutes and represents its questioning/exploring mortality well visually with its cover, songs like the opener “Feeling So Low,” “Afraid to Live,” “Fear and Sacrifice” and “The Choice” taking a contemplative and somewhat wistful position that suits the natural sound of Valkyrie‘s particular take on doom rock and brings out a new kind of resonance within their work as well as highlights the human spirit that’s made them so resonant over the longer term — because while they’ve never hit the road for two months at a time or put out records on a regular 18-month cycle, each Valkyrie LP brims with a sincerity and heart all its own, Fear included.

On first hearing, a given listener might be struck by the roll of “Feeling So Low” at the outset, and how, with Jake Adams‘ vocals patterned over the kind of bounding riff as they are, Valkyrie reminds of earlier Kadavar, but actually what’s coming through are the roots in classic heavy rock that have always been central to their efforts. If Fear is Valkyrie laying claim to that aspect of their sound, one would be hard-pressed to think of a better unit to stand as inheritor of the foundation set by the likes of Pentagram in the mid-Atlantic region of the US. That’s not the kind of thing a band is likely to purposefully decide as they’re writing a song, but putting “Feeling So Low” at the beginning of Fear does more than just start the record with a quality hook and the first of many, many, many guitar solos — it establishes the atmosphere and context from which the rest of the songs will branch out.

It shouldn’t be a surprise at this point that Valkyrie can structure a fluid LP, as they’ve certainly done it before, but in pairing “Feeling So Low” and “Afraid to Live” — the longest inclusion at 6:45 — right next to each other, the band bring their audience with them readily and present a deceptive immersion in side A of the release while remaining largely grounded in terms of structure and songwriting. Likewise, it should shock nobody who’s heard them before that the guitar work is stellar, but as ever, credit has to go to Hawkins and Fary in the rhythm section has holding down the sleek groove of “Feeling So Low” or third track “Loveblind” and keeping the Adams brothers in check when it comes time to launch into the next lead. Fary, who delves into more extreme territory with Earthling, plays with well enough class to hold his own against the higher-end strings, and Hawkins — who’s been with the band since at least 2008 — skillfully changes drum patterns to feed the energy behind solos, not only in “Loveblind” but all across Fear, his chemistry with the two guitarists well evident in the fluidity and swing of his technique. Valkyrie are, to put it another way, more than just a guitar band.

Side A rolls to its finish with “The Choice,” a nodding groove taking hold with the arrival of the verse peppered with leads that emerge as the foundation for a rousing final charge, and the semi-title-track “Fear and Sacrifice” begins side B with a more progressive turn that hints at some of the departures to come. Again, classic form, but it’s still well in line with where Valkyrie have been up to that point, and even as the guitars intertwine with an added touch of intricacy to the between-verses noodling, there’s the solid rock foundation beneath. A quick moment of quiet precedes the launch of a second solo section building on the first, and that carries “Fear and Sacrifice” to its finish ahead of the closing salvo in “Brings You Down,” “Evil Eye” and “Exasperator,” each of which gets successively shorter as they move to round out the album.

That’s an interesting, almost humble, choice on the part of the band, but it coincides as well with an uptick in sonic breadth, as “Brings You Down” taps more mellow blues vibes before taking off as it does, while “Evil Eye” might be the best hook Valkyrie has ever written — a shimmering proto-metal highlight somewhat buried on the album but that serves well in its position as a last energy charge before the instrumental “Exasperator” closes. The guitars again weave themselves together in a way that echoes “Fear and Sacrifice” and some of Fear‘s other classic-heavy-prog flourishes, but the pastoralism in their work remains firm and, as it has only ever done, makes Valkyrie an all the more distinguished and engaging band. They’ve been underrated for over 15 years, and, well, they’ll probably continue to be underrated for as long as they go — such is in the finest tradition of mid-Atlantic heavy — but for those who give Fear a chance to sink in, the rewards are three-dimensional, and in performance and craft, Valkyrie offer their most complete work to-date.

Valkyrie, Fear (2020)

Valkyrie on Thee Facebooks

Valkyrie on Bandcamp

Relapse Records website

Relapse Records on Thee Facebooks

Tags: Fear, Harrisonburg, Relapse Records, Valkyrie, Valkyrie Fear, Virginia

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 12th, 2020 at 8:47 am and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.