History & Biography This black metal band was formed in 2005 by fanzine editors/Metal Maniacs magazine writers Marty Rytkonen and S. Craig Zahler (as Worm and Czar) and soon issued an EP called The Dark Archives in 2005 through Paragon Records. Soon thereafter, the band recorded a full-length called The Igneous Race which was only issued in 2007.
Reviews CHARNEL VALLEY - THE DARK ARCHIVES - PARAGON 
When two reviewers for a major metal magazine form a band one would think they would know better. Worm and Czar, the duo behind Charnel Valley, are apparently writers for American magazine Metal Maniacs and here have tried their hands at music themselves.
First of all, as writers, they should know better than most that there is a glut of bands on the scene and unless one has something special to offer it is an insult to the ecosystem to form a band and record material that eventually has to be wrapped in paper and shipped somewhere. Moreover, when the band is so untight and so elementary in its delivery and composition no amount of masquerading as black metal or professing allegiance to Quorthon or Darkthrone will repel the inevitable slagging that will follow. After all, who can say five lo-fi songs that are not even fast or heavy and do not even pretend to have anything different on offer are worth the purchase money? Simply put, Charnel Valley is strictly derivative and inferior. Sure, it could have been worse (they could have used keyboards for instance), but aside from some faster moments and interesting bass parts on Demonic Science The Dark Archives should be assigned to the annals of forgotten history. - Ali "The Metallian"
Interviews
|
