Album: Conjuring Fate: Valley of Shadows
I first heard Conjuring Fate some time last year when I was looking for somewhat old-school, shred-heavy bands. I was then lucky enough to catch them as one of the supports for Temperance in Dublin back in April. Strangely enough, while their songs and performance were both excellent, what stood out to me about Conjuring Fate was how much fun they seemed to be having. Temperance seemed slightly uncomfortable in the small, underground venue (the Gypsy Rose) and Selene (❤) were being their usual gothic, melodramatic selves, but Karl and Phil of CJ were ripping out riffs with big grins on their faces. The kind of passion I saw there is reflected throughout Valley of Shadows; it’s an old-style heavy metal/power metal beast where the sometimes grim tone of the lyrics is masked by the upbeat performance. Expect solid, consistent tempos alongside long, sprightly solos and Dickinson-esque vocals with harmonies aplenty.
I’m a huge power metal fan, so I’m in my element when reviewing this; I’ll happily work on genres outside my comfort zone as they’re released, but I go into this one from a place of love; and Valley of Shadows is like listening to the genre for the first time again. It’s defiantly old-school, setting aside the endless escalation of drama and speed that gave birth to Dragonforce and Rhapsody of Fire, and preferring to keep the tempo on the moderate side of speedy. I don’t have a preference for either style over the other, but I have a guilty fondness for bands who stick rigidly to either one. Mind you, there’s still plenty of drama and energy at play here, with narrative lyrics about various horror-movie scenarios and some very fierce twin-guitar work. Everything seems so carefully placed, with harmonies and solos arriving at the precise moment they’re necessary. The guys love what they do, and it shows through in every song.
‘Our Darkest Days’ begins with the sound of emergency sirens and warning announcements, making it the second ever Northern Irish power metal song about darkest days to do so, but let’s put that mystery aside. Conjuring Fate are going for the ‘start as you mean to go on’ school of album-openers. Rather than pushing the drama up to eleven for the opening, they make the first track a solid, representative sample of what’s to come, with lyrics about a nuclear zombie apocalypse accompanied by distinctly Maiden-y guitar. I liked it – but I was even more enthused by the follow-up, ‘Marching Dead’; which hits with one of the most joyful power metal openings I’ve heard in quite a long time. From the opening riff on, it’s all systems go; a rip-roaring melody, a catchy chorus, and the recurrence of that delicious opening. 'Marching Dead' is one of those rare songs that I'll listen to twice or thrice in a row in the middle of an album runthrough because I don't want to part with it. ‘Dr. Frankenstein’ continues the welcome notion of sticking solos at the start of the song; it’s a catchy narrative piece with a well-produced and delightfully goofy music video, and strong narrative songwriting. ‘Land of the Damned’ is a bit thrashier, and both it and ‘Chasing Shadows’ are pushed well past the six-minute mark by lots of guitar work. This is a smart idea; they need to give equal attention to their music and vocals, and they do so by stretching out regular verse-chorus-verse-chorus-solo-chorus structures with longer instrumental sections so that neither overshadows the other.
If anyone (somehow) doubted the band's power metal credentials, they embrace it wholly in ‘Chasing Shadows’ with a harmony-driven‘On the mountains high/Where the eagles fly'; it’s epic in the literal sense; a bit of Stratovarius-type tomfoolery that gets no complaints from me. ‘A Primal Desire’ keeps the harmonic vocals going for much of the duration, with catchier hooks and less guitar melody; ‘Trust No One’ balances this with rhythmic vocals and angrier guitars. There’s some spoken sampling in there too; I believe it’s themed on ‘The Thing’ but my horror history is not encyclopedic. ‘Apocalypse’ opens with some surprisingly heavy thrash metal guitar chaos, which gives way to a shredding melody; both carry on for the duration, with vocals taking a bit more of a back seat. It’s more Metallica than Maiden, but the speedy vibes keep eking in, so it doesn’t seem out of step with the rest of the record. Thrash and power metal aren’t polar opposites by any means, but the contest here is pretty compelling. My version of the album included three tracks that originate on CJ’s House on Haunted Hill E.P.; ‘House on Haunted Hill’, ‘Mirror Mirror’ and ‘Backwoods Witch’. They’re all rock-solid additions to the record, although if I must be pedantic they’re closer to the enigmatic ‘heavy metal/NWOBHM’ label than the rest, possessing a bit more groovy aggression and a little less soaring drama. Their solos, however, are all downright great.
This particular kind of fast, high, old-school metal seems to be something of a staple in Northern Ireland. I am no expert, and yet I can point to Bäkken, Maverick, Ironheart, Fireland, and Stormzone just off the top of my head; Steve Moore of the latter two actually makes a guest appearance on Valley of Shadows. Thankfully, all of these are different enough to avoid crowding the field, and Conjuring Fate will find their place easily. This is not a record that re-invents the wheel, it’s about doing something well-established with shameless gusto. And it really is shameless; it comes through in the passion of their recorded performance and, if you’re lucky enough to catch them live you’ll be able to see how much they love what they’re doing (alternatively, just watch the video for 'Dr. Frankenstein'!). I suppose I’m biased by my own unabashed love for this sound, so as a grouchy critic I’d suggest a little more variety on the album might not go amiss. But at the end of the day, I’m more an enthusiast than a critic, and if you love power metal half as much as I do, you won’t want to miss Valley of Shadows.
Favourite track: ‘Marching Dead’
Polite Recommendation: Maybe a slow ballad? Interesting to hear what they'd do with it.
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