Album Review: Magnetar – There Will Be No Peace in My Valley (Vendetta Records)

Magnetar, a three-piece blackened death metal band from the UK, have released their debut album ‘There Will Be No Peace in My Valley’ via Vendetta Records.

It doesn’t matter how packed the release calendar is, when a band with the heavy calibre of Magnetar comes along, we pay attention. The mastermind behind the band is Dan Walmsley, who plays all instruments except the drums, which are hammered by Necronautical/Foetal Juice’s Rob Harris and the vocals which are delivered by Winterfylleth/Aro bassist, Nick Walllwork. See? A trio that set a high and heavy standard.

So, it should come as no surprise that There Will Be No Peace in My Valley has a beastly sound. One based within the world of blackened death, but not curtailed by the more extreme and aggressive soundscape, and more than willing to experiment with melody. It’s this amalgamation that makes SCUM an immediate head turner, especially as it has Magnetar come raging out of the blocks with a ferocious pace, before switching the tempo and dropping a killer guitar solo. Forget head turning, it’s a head banger through and through.

Bar set, The Shadow Mountains then offers up something a bit different, but equally as thrilling. Magnetar displaying a more epic side to their sound, while still having layers of delightful blackened brutality at the forefront. The melodic drop and subsequent heavy rise proves to be one of the highlights of the entire record.

Although the atmosphere-drenched intro of To Render the Soul, and following crashing and smashing of heavy metal glory, is nothing to complain about. Nor is there anything disappointing about the detailed display of exciting head banging noise that comes from the title track. Whereas the former has a raucous explosivity to the vocals and drums, the latter is guitar-driven and changes the tone up with bigger melodies and even some clean singing.

Having already thrown their all into the first half of the record, it’s no surprise that the second half has a slow-down of sorts with A Deluge of Pious Primitives. Yet even though the tempo shift is notable, it doesn’t betray the innate savage intensity that sits at the core of the Magnetar sound. It just so happens that this is another example of their more epic sonic abilities, and the melodies simply soar.

Then, they lull the listener into a false sense of security as Of Ulm seems to suggest, based off its guitar melody intro, that it’s going to continue that soaring trend. However, this is as extreme as it gets on this album and Magnetar throw absolute caution to the wind with a level of ruthlessness not heard elsewhere on the record. It’s fantastic, with all the parts of the band delivering with colossal and substantial aplomb.

How do you follow that and close out this huge debut record? By going even bigger, even bolder, and even more brutal (in places). Adorned in Flame is a huge finale, both in length and in delivery. Taking all the parts of Magnetar; the melody, the savagery, the speed, the grandstanding, the unrepenting metal focus, the extreme turns, and so much more, and combining it all into one big ending that puts the emphatic stamp on a thrilling debut record.

Magnetar – There Will Be No Peace in My Valley Track Listing:

1. SCUM
2. The Shadow Mountains
3. To Render the Soul
4. There Will Be No Peace in My Valley
5. A Deluge of Pious Primitives
6. Of Ulm
7. Adorned in Flame

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