Early 2025 seems to turn into the year of the Valkyries. The RMR crew already had some earlier. A flamboyant platter of moods and flavors served with an underlying vampiric Victorian flair. But here, things are moving seriously North. To the places where the sun either gets stuck in the sky for months or won’t shine at all. But it is also to places where true metal excellence happens more often than not.
So, the question here is: Will Bloody Valkyria and their somewhat unwieldingly structured piece In Our Home, Across the Fog really cut the dense Scandinavian mustard? There’s only one way to find out. Let ‘er roar, sez I.
The Fantasy Metal universe is sprinkled with all sorts of bands delving into mystical lore or the works of master storytellers such as Tolkien. Others – again – let themselves be smitten by gameplay and the often elaborate storylines attached to that. Bands such as Caladan Brood or Summoning come to mind right away. And quite a few of them are one-man shows or duos, often slaving away in their home studios with – more often than not – predictable results.
Bloody Valkyria is one of those bands. In Our Home, Across The Fog is the sole brainchild of Finnish artist Jere Kervinen. The production, the performance of everything, and the feisty mix all emerge from – well – the (invisible) Moonless Home Studio.1 The record draws its wisdom from – and I quote – “…the epic lore of Elden Ring.” Yet another of them role-playing computer games. But – those artificial and often elaborately crafted worlds with their fantastical history attached can serve as the perfect theme for records such as this one. And, as always, a sturdy storyline can be a great connector to even greater things to follow later.
The record delivers a potpourri of different shades of Atmospheric Black Metal and often haunting Post Black acoustics. In addition, the RMR crew detected some attempts to reach the mysterious depths of Blackened and Melodic Death Metal. This extraordinary mélange of moods, emotions, and flavors rolls in on dramatic and grandiosely structured cathedral soundscapes. A very specific style that often sails closer to Moonsorrow than it actually should nonetheless. All of that roars into yer headphones on a sturdy diet of overwrought synth-heavy keys, subtle orchestrations, and way too much reverb at every corner of the production. Kervinen‘s croaks, snarls, and melodeath-ish weird monologues (From Stormwell to Liurnia, for instance) often catch the mood of the moment pretty well.
And that gets me to the main issue of the play here. In Our Home, Across the Fog suffers from an overly bricked production. One that’s somewhat akin to the early tinny-sounding synth-driven Black Metal fantasy pieces of many years in the past. You see all the ideas are there with rough-hewn but pretty sturdy songwriting and an arrangement that actually could lead to something palatable. But having all elements constantly competing for space made this reviewer wince more than she should. Meaning, some better attention to sound hierarchy might have worked wonders here.
Need an example? Tale of House Hoslow is the track with the greatest potential, containing one of the best solos of In Our Home. The subdued piano opener and the mourning cello truly tell us of great things to come. But once the majestic drums lead off and everything else starts firing on all pistons at once, the compressors kick in. And that turns an otherwise great track into a flat, midi-like sounding, mushy piece that just made us switch to the next one. The record is full of more such impurities. And let me point out the fade-out at the end of The Fallen Leaves Tell a Story. I never understood why botched endings such as these should ruin an otherwise fine and powerful song.
In the end, In Our Home, Across the Fog ain’t a bad record, far from it. Da master of the play indeed had many great ideas for addressing the storyline here. And I reckon that avid players of the Elden Ring game will find a lot to like here. And indeed, the soaring and often dramatic soundscapes full of mystical atmosphere should be able to suck the listener into the storyline. The album is full of good to great material. Yet, it always was the somewhat spotty production that pulled us back from granting the piece a much higher ranking.
Record Rating: 5/10 | Label: Northern Silence Productions | Web: Official Band Site
Release Date: 4 April 2025
- And this tells me all there is to know already. -Ed.-↩