Artist: Valac
Country: USA
Label: Black Gangrene Productions
Formats: Demo CD
Year: 2025
Although Valac has been around for quite some time now, being formed in 2019, none of its rather extensive back-catalogue has been featured on these pages yet. Time to set that record straight with this prolific one-man act’s latest offering, the ‘By Twin Forces Of Evil’ demo, which is about to be released by the revered Portuguese Black Gangrene Productions label. So, prepare for some unadulterated raw and harsh Black Metal.
It might have been a coincidence, but it seems the most productive and restless period for Valac was around the time the Covid-pandemic ruled the planet, in the last years the project only spawned just one recording per year. This latest demo too is just the only thing we’ve been served with so far in 2025 and the follow-up to 2024’s ‘Under The Ophidians Curse’, the fourth full-length record.
But, that considerable slowing down of releasing material did not effect the music itself. ‘By Twin Forces Of Evil’ is nothing but a natural continuation, or progression, if you will, from what R.P. (also in Izalith, Astral Sacrifice To Ganymede and Sulfurous Presence) has been doing before. The fundamentals of Valac are still built on the visionary work of the bands from the Les Légions Noires circle, with a clear emphasis on the noisiest bands of the bunch. Contemporary comparisons, or rather creative allies, are clearly the American counterparts of Sanguine Relic (especially the first three albums) and the Portuguese Black Cilice (primarily up to and including their second album, their roughest work). The cruder parts of the music definitely harkens back to those familiar blueprints, but Valac has a bit of that hallucinatory melodic vibe that some other bands also weave into their craft. Yet Valac does this way more subtle, creating and building an almost ultimate contrast to the grainy texture of the riffs and the rather inextricable chaos that is the rest of the music. Those melodies are so deeply tucked away that they really only really reveal themselves to the full upon multiple listens. And that is, frankly, definitely a highly recommended approach for Valac’s music anyway.
