Inspired by Gregor Mackintosh’s personal experience of bereavement after the death of his father in 2009, Vallenfyre’s ‘A Fragile King’ is a dark cathartic release of epoch busting proportions. From beginning to end its cataclysmic subterranean drones will shake your very foundation. Comprising talent from bands such as Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, Doom, Extinction of Mankind, At The Gates and Cradle of Filth, to name but a few, Vallenfyre are attributed supergroup status. Paradoxically, whilst the compositions on the album are by no means radical or essentially innovative, ‘A Fragile King’ is none the less very well crafted and superbly executed! The subject matter is thoroughly introspective and as sombre as it gets, and is accompanied throughout by a prevailing sense of foreboding with its relentless barrage of earth pummelling doom-guitar, bass and percussion. ‘A Fragile King’ is an album that bleeds, and is probably not the sort of thing you should be buying grandma this Christmas! Brutally honest in its irreverence, the album will take you to the darkest of places, but to experience it is to appreciate it.