This band is something special. If you can believe their story, Valient Thorr is a creature from the planet Venus that lands on earth to make it a better place but is captured by American security agencies. They took North America by storm and broke through more internationally with their 3rd and 4th release, Legend of the World and Heatseeker. Now the extraterrestrial rockers are back to hit you with a dose of their uncompromising riffs, melodies and heaviness in album nr. 7: Old Salt.
Despite their earlier raw work, it seems they cranked it up a bit more even this time. By adding a touch more (hardcore) punk they accomplished this, but never forgetting to keep the melody and catchiness in sight. Cause if there’s one thing you can say about this record, is that it’s damn catchy! Several songs have weaseled their way into my head and I don’t seem to want to leave anymore. Starting with Mirakuru, a typical Valient Thorr song with a very old school vibe. Valient Himself shouts and sings his lungs out as usual and you quickly shout along with “You’re a dead man!”.
With the very jumpy Lil Knife they keep up this level of rawness and catchiness. It’s a fun song in which they apparently found the use of having a knife around all the time. In No Count Blues they open with a really high pace which drags you in the song immediately. There’s overall a very raw bluesy vibe to it and is one of my more favorite songs of the album.
The Trudge and The Shroud are some very epic songs in which they throw punches you won’t recover that easily from. Great heavy metal/hard rock songs with wonderfull riffs and guitar solos. Another song that really caught my ear is the way more calm Worm Up. At first it starts with a nice energetic riff and shouting. But in this song Valient Himself seems to try to contain his usually powerfull vocals at a certain point. And it turns it into something fragile but filled to the brim with energy at the same time. To then let loose of all that contained energy by shouting and hard rocking to every rocker’s heart’s desire!
If these were mere mortals from this planet called Earth, you might think that Valient Himself and his fellow Thorrs might have taken some hallucinogenics while writing their music and lyrics. But since they’re from Venus, the lyrics bring us an interesting (yet wacky) look on Earth’s politics and society. And this is all wrapped up in a very trippy but catchy package.
Overall Valient Thorr did it again. They made a great blend of hard rock, heavy metal and (hardcore) punk that attracts fans of all just mentioned music styles. In Europe they didn’t have much popularity yet, but I really hope that with Old Salt they finally get a little boost. If you’re not a “Thorrior” yet, be sure to pick this silver disc up and become a fan. They’re definitely worth it and are a highly interesting bunch of dudes. 7,5/10 for this message from Venus!
Release Date: July 29th, 2016
Label: Napalm Records
Tracklist:
1. Mirakuru
2. Lil Knife
3. Cut and Run
4. No Count Blues
5. The Trudge
6. Worm Up
7. Spellbroke
8. Linen Maker
9. The Shroud
10. Looking Glass
11. Jealous Gods
12. Somnambluance (digital bonus)
13. Deillumination (digital bonus)
