Two years have passed since Immortalizer, and American stoner rockers Valient Thorr are back with Stranger; which sees the five slow down a bit. The energy is still there, yet likely in the tune of the recent sludge trend they’ve cranked it down to a 7. It may be a natural progression for the band, especially with their place in the Southern rock and metal scene. Whatever the reason, it feels as if they’ve started to embark on a more generic direction than their past work may have one believe.
This isn’t to say that Stranger is a bad album. Valient Thorr are a group who seek to rock no matter what they do, and this shows on tracks like ‘Habituary’, ‘Woman in the Woods’ and even ‘The Recognition’; a curiously named drum solo. Barring any questions to whether the band are demanding respect for their skills, or even asking listeners to pay attention to real music in the New Media Age where technology seems to have taken precedence over proper musicianship; it stands that Valient Thorr know their craft and don’t want you to forget it. That said, it would make things more interesting if they tried to step out of the mould here a little.
5/10
ANN SULAIMAN
Damn my mixed spelling!