Válvera – Cycle Of Disaster
Brutal Records
Release Date: 28/08/2020
Running time: 40:30
Review by Victor Augusto
8.5/10
Maybe I am becoming repetitive with my speech, similar to what some bands do with their music, considering it is almost impossible to offer something completely new in Heavy Metal. Of course, about my speech, it is more a matter of laziness to find good words to express myself (Please boss, don’t fire me!) (Don’t worry Victor, you’re safe – Rick). Ok, what I am trying to say is that I don’t expect anything new from bands, but there are two things that still intrigue me when brutal music is the subject. Firstly, if you can offer complex and heavy music, but at the same time, make it simple and catchy, you will have my attention. Secondly, it doesn’t matter if what you play has already been played by tons of bands before, but if you can still put anger (in the very good meaning of the word) and passion into the music, then you will also have my attention. With this explanation, we can now talk about this album and review!
As you may imagine, the Brazilian Thrash Metal band Válvera does, exactly, the two things I mentioned above, and they go further. Their music is brutal, like good Thrash Metal should be, but it is not the same old Thrash Metal that other bands repeat constantly. It is something full of heaviness, very well thought out with catchy riffs, amazing song structures and good melodies too. As for the anger, well that probably comes from all the subjects covered in the tracks. This is easy to explain because the lyrics focus on many disgraces that human beings have suffered with through the years. Do you want one example? Well, ‘Glow of Death’ is about the famous case of contamination by Cesium-137, which happened in Brazil in 1987. At that time, some people tried to sell equipment found in the garbage, but it had all been in contact with a machine used for radioactive therapy. They had no idea what they were dealing with or selling, and it caused the death of hundreds of people.
Musically, I can hear a very mature band, focused on cadence, which offers good value to the riffs. Nothing is extremely fast but it’s far from being slow. Title track ‘Cycle of Disaster’ contains a wall of heaviness from guitarists Glauber Barreto and Rodrigo Torres and it is possible to understand that the band don’t want to keep repetitive structures in their music. You can hear many variations here and it brilliantly keeps the listeners attention throughout the album. Glauber also explores some melodies with his vocals on the excellent ‘The Damn Colony’, which showcases a catchier kind of music without losing its powerful sonority. Even the solo is played differently with the usual ‘Kerry King style of playing’ making way for something much more melodic and well-structured!
If Gabriel Prado has already showed sonority on his bass during the opening song ‘Nothing Left To Burn’ and drummer Leandro Peixoto shows his technique on ‘Glow Of Death’, then in ‘All Systems Fall’ both appear stronger than ever and do a magnificent job together. Maybe it is not the album’s best song but it actually feels like all the members have put their identity into the composition and if that isn’t the case then the person who wrote it has thought really closely about the feelings of their bandmates
‘Fight For Your Life’ has a more positive spirit and makes you feel stronger after listening to all the struggles and disgraces mentioned by the band. This song also shows more melodies and solos inspired by classic heavy metal bands and it opens space for the last song, the furious ‘Bringer Of Evil’ with its fast cadence. It is a perfect song choice to finish this great album.
I confess that I’ve never heard anything from Válvera before. Maybe I heard someone talking about them and it was interesting try to understand what they want to play. The first thing that popped into my head was that the band knew exactly what they wanted to achieve with this record. This is a natural step for a band releasing their third album after 10 years of existence and many tours but it is not just a case of being a mature band, I feel like they have focused on getting a good producer, not just to have good arrangements or recording sound, but who seems to have travelled deep into the band’s soul to extract their best compositions and help them to reach this amazing result.
Once again, I don’t know if that was what really happened with the relationship between Válvera and their producer Rogério Wecko, but I can assure that the final result is incredible. “Cycle Of Disaster” shows a professional band that is ready to go much further in their career.
TRACKLISTING:
01. Nothing Left To Burn
02. Cycle Of Disaster
03. Glow Of Death
04. The Damn Colony
05. All Systems Fall
06. Born On A Dead Planet
07. O.S. 1977
08. Fight For Your Life
09. Bringer Of Evil
LINE-UP
Glauber Barreto – Vocals and Guitars
Rodrigo Torres – Guitars
Gabriel Prado – Bass
Leandro Peixoto – Drums
LINKS:
www.valvera.com.br
www.facebook.com/bandavalvera/
www.instagram.com/valveraband
www.open.spotify.com/artist/3S87lwfQs6K1O1WsQrpPhz
www.deezer.com/artist/8945888
www.youtube.com/valveraoficial
www.brutalrecords.com/
Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Victor Augusto and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.