Vain Valkyries – The Great Suffering
Release Date: 17th February 2023
Label: Self-Released
Bandcamp
Genre: Heavy Rock, Post-Hardcore.
FFO: Mutoid Man, Tigercub, Cave In, Royal Blood, Queens Of The Stone Age, Meshuggah.
Review By: Kara Ketchum
Say “bonjour” to debut release The Great Suffering by French-brother duo Vain Valkyries. Before listening, I read the artist’s description and I thought, “What did I sign up to review?” Afterward, I’m still not 100% sure what happened, but it was a fun ride regardless. A breath of fresh air is maybe putting this whirlwind a little lightly – it’s definitely a cyclone-level disruption of the normal post-hardcore formula.
The opening track “Resolutions” doesn’t do what’s about to come justice. A haunting, macabre introduction to the world being built by the band gives, but, a mere sample of the range exhibited on the album. Next up, “Eyes Won’t See” carves a chugging, melodic path in the story being woven by the album. It slows into a sludgy, doomy “Cadillacs On Fire” with one of the stronger vocal performances on the album. An abrupt end leads to the titillating intro of “Daily Dose Of Fun” which feels like a powder keg getting ready to burst. The structure of the song blended with the tone feels like a love letter to both stoner rock and math-rock, which sounds at odds, but it’s an apt description. It ends with an ambient tonality to close off the first half of the album.
Starting on the second half of the album, “No Reply” opens with a deep chugging and violent, passionate vocal outburst. The song features high-octane moments interspersed with Alice In Chains-esque reprieves, and an Enter Shikari “Woo!” Track six, “Brittle Bone Disco” is probably my favorite song on the album and feels the most cohesive as a unit, but much to my dismay is also the shortest song on the album. “The Perfect Match” then follows up with a surfer-stoner riff and an alt-rock crooning similar to Incubus’ Brandon Boyd. There’s another good “Woo!” in this song.
Wrapping up the last chunk of the album, “What Is Perfect Is Dead” is a moody ballad that’s the wrapping paper on a drudge in disguise. The breakdown of the song is brutal, heavy, and deep. The ninth song “The Gathering” continues this more melodic vein present in the album, blending the swaying melodies with the weighty instrumentals. Lastly, “Damsels In Distress” wraps up the album nicely with a genre-spanning closure to an already multidiscipline body of work.
Overall, the album could use some refinement, but is a fun piece of standalone art. Making something you and your band (or brother in this case) are proud of is a commendable achievement in of itself. I hope Ian and Simon Debeerst are stoked and excited about what they’ve released to the world, and I hope it finds its way to the people who need to hear it. 
(3.5 / 5)
