The band that pops your metaphorical cherry on a genre and introduces you to the pleasures it can offer is a special one. Vale of Pnath is that band for me, being the ones to get me into technical death metal with their album II. Unfortunately they took a complete turn from tech death on follow-up EP Accursed, and I’ve never been able to get into that release as a whole. The shoddy production and mediocre songs combined with the turn into symphonic black metal left a sour taste in my mouth, and while I have been fortunate enough to see this band live twice (and they were fun both times) it’s just not the same. Now they return with their third album Between the Worlds of Life and Death. Spearheaded by a new vocalist – Ken Sorceron (Abigail Williams) – along with brand new members in their bassist and drummer, do Vale of Pnath successfully make the leap between genres, or did they catch a snag and fall into the murk of mediocrity?
Going into Between the Worlds of Life and Death, it must be understood that purely playing technical death metal is not what Vale of Pnath do anymore. And while I can forgive genre changing between records if done well, this is not an example of an accomplished landing. Songwriting is decent enough, with some cleverly placed keyboards that do well to set the tone, even if it’s a trope of the genre on “Soul Offering.” They’ve written their best song since II on this album as well, with “Beneath Ashen Skies.” If the rest of the album were similar, I would appreciate it more than what my experience yielded.
Unfortunately, the rest of Between the Worlds of Life and Death lacks a sense of identity and never leaves the “utterly mediocre” zone. Most of the songs on here don’t make me think “yeah, this is what the future of Vale of Pnath is.” Instead some (“Silent Prayers”) sound like recycled Behemoth riffs, some are generic (“Burning Worlds”) with Zenith Passage-esque “brrdt-brrdt-brrdt” riffs, and others attempt to add atmosphere but instead kill momentum (“Echoes of the Past”). Not to mention, the production bogs down any other enjoyment of the album. It’s extremely crushed, ending with the bass presence being barely audible or at many points inaudible, and the normally great vocals of Ken Sorceron buried in the mix. This is not the follow-up to Accursed I was expecting or hoping for, and I hope Vale of Pnath improve on their next outing, because I know they have it in them for something great again. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go listen to II again.
