Track By Tracks: VALYRIA - Into The Dying of Time (2018)

The EP as a whole is a piece of progressive melodic death metal with strong power and modern metal influences. It is bookended by an intro and outro track that tie into the previous and next releases, and that are inverse of each-other – the intro is medieval, primarily orchestral and piano driven, whereas the outro is cold and futuristic with synth pulses and choirs. The songs in between are meant to journey the listener through five different stories in very different settings, culminating with the climax in ‘Floating World’ and each using a different mixture of our influences to paint their worlds.

1. ‘Steel Inquisition’ is a fast, technical melodic death metal song with a strong power metal chorus and an epic conclusion designed to get the crowd moving and start things off with a bang. This is an updated recording of our 2016 single, with entirely new vocal tracks, slight differences in composition, and a new mix and master. The song is a retelling of Brandon Sanderson’s fantasy novel Mistborn, with a particular focus on the character Kelsier and his actions in creating a legend to lead a revolution through sacrifice.

2. ‘Tome of Shattered Vessels’ is a more mid-paced progressive song that features some of the heaviest and modern riffing on the album, but still loaded with symphonics and melody. The song is tragic in tone, focusing on the legend of the Golem of Prague, the long exile of the Jewish people, and concepts of Kabbalah, told through the narration of a dying mystic. Diego Fernandez from Eye of Horus has a guest vocal appearance in the second verse.

3. ‘Of Sky and Sea’ is the purest example of power metal on the album; its seven minutes of high speed double kick driven metal, but with hint of After the Burial in the two breakdowns…  that still have cheesy choirs on top. Of Sky and Sea is the album’s high point in guitar theatrics, with plenty of harmonies, leads, and a sprawling solo section. Lyrically, the song is about the story of Peter Pan in Spielberg’s Hook – a hero reclaiming his lost legacy and living out one last adventure before passing on the torch.

4. ‘The Crossing’ is the most succinct example of our sound – equal parts djent, death and power metal, with even a tiny hint of skate punk. This song is filled with glittering keyboard and guitar melodies, brutal chugging, and soaring vocal harmonies, surrounding a lush clean section that builds up into trade-off solos bookending the album’s heaviest breakdown. The Crossing is based on Haruki Murakami’s novel ‘Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World’, an existential cyberpunk odyssey that sees our protagonist confront and cross through his own demise and live on in the world of dreams.

5. ‘Floating World’ fades into a burst of blast beats and black metal that turns into a technical melodic death metal track with a pounding chorus and bouncing breakdown riffing. The coda after the second chorus is the album’s true climax, with layered vocals and an 80’s style guitar solo to close things out on an uplifting tone. This song focuses on the concept of space travel and man’s desire to seek transcendence and something greater than the confines of war, politics, and lust that keep us bound to the ground. It’s influenced in part by the historical space race between the US and USSR, as well the related anime film Royal Space Force: Wings of Honneamise.