UMUR "Fear Those Who Fear Him" is the 3rd full-length studio album by UK death metal act Vallenfyre. The album was released through Century Media Records in June 2017. It´s the successor to "Splinters" from 2014 and features a couple of lineup changes as bassist Scoot has left Vallenfyre. He hasn´t been replaced which means that the bass parts were recorded by guitarist Hamish Hamilton Glencross. Drummer Adrian Erlandsson has been replaced by Waltteri Väyrynen (B>Paradise Lost, Hypothesis, Abhorrence). The last member of the three-piece lineup is vocalist/guitarist Gregor Mackintosh.

Vallenfyre was specifically formed as an outlet for the band members old school death metal ideas, which their day job bands couldn´t incorporate. And brutal and sinister old school death metal it is. Ranging from fast-paced, D-beat hardcore punked, mid-paced and heavy, to ultra brutal and doomy, "Fear Those Who Fear Him" has it all when it comes to old school death metal traits. Mackintosh has a brutal yet intelligible growling vocal style, which suits the darkness of the music well and paired with the rawness of the sound production (the guitars have what I´d characterize as an early 90s Swedish death metal tone), the album comes off as one of the more successful contemporary retro sounding death metal releases.

The change in pace and rhythm style are some of the great assets of the band´s music. Fast-paced tracks like "Messiah" and "Nihilist", are paired with the mid-paced brutal grooves of tracks like "Degeneration" and "Amongst the Filth", and the slow brutal death/doom of tracks like "An Apathetic Grave" and "Cursed from the Womb". And it all sounds pretty natural too. Nothing contrived about it. It just feels like the band have composed exactly what they wanted, when and how they wanted. When you play a music style like this these days, no one expects your music to be of a groundbreaking character, because the whole idea behind playing this type of music is to have a derivative approach to composing your material, but that doesn´t mean you can´t still try to forge a personal sound, to set yourself apart from the pack. Vallenfyre are relatively successful in doing that. At least to a certain extent.

The real asset on "Fear Those Who Fear Him" is how well performed the material is though. These are some really well playing guys, and there are tons of conviction and passion behind the delivery. There´s a great raw and organic touch to the way the music is played, which is greatly charming, and ultimately suiting the old school death metal material perfectly. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

Nightfly Vallenfyre started as a side-line and a bit of fun for Paradise Lost guitarist Gregor Mackintosh and now ex-My Dying Bride guitarist Hamish Glencross, but since their debut album “A Fragile King” released in 2011, they’re still going strong and back with their Third outing “Fear Those Who Fear Him”. Adrian Erlandsson no longer occupies the drum stool, no doubt too busy with At The Gates, the Haunted etc, so in comes current Paradise Lost drummer Waltteri Väyrynen. The band has now shrunk to a three piece with Glencross also taking on bass duties.

It’s pretty much business as usual with once again a strong retro Swedish death metal influence prevailing with its raw guitar sound - think Dismember and Entombed. There’s also a hefty doom element capped off with a dose of punk. It’s another winner – this is heavy as hell and if anything they’ve gone and made the sound even rawer. The first couple of plays didn’t click with me but as soon as I cranked it up it began to make sense – this stuff needs to be played loud. Full of riffs that’ll pummel you into the ground, whether it’s the faster songs like “Messiah”, “Temple Of Rats” and the short sharp burst that is “Nihilist” Or doomier tracks like instrumental opener “Born to Decay” and “Cursed From The Womb”, either way its sledgehammer approach really hits the spot. Tracks like “Degeneration” add some Celtic Frost groove to the proceedings. It’s all aided by a thick organic production and an immense drum sound. Mackintosh once again supplies a convincing death growl and the band as a whole put in a strong performance.

I think I might slightly prefer last album “Splinters”, mainly down to the overall sound rather than anything lacking in the songwriting, which wasn’t quite as raw. Don’t let that put you off though as this is a great dose of retro doomy death metal.