by Karl Magi
Vampire Valentine’s “Scarred & Sacred” travels into the depths of bleak emotion and humanity’s darker side with gripping vocals, heavy guitars and massive percussion given added weight and power with Tony Gunk and ForerunnerX’s contributions in the production and synth elements of the music.
“Scarred” exhales with whispers and tender sensations, only haunted by a soft spectre tracing through the music in the strings. The violin is full of tremulous expression while the underlayer writhes with Tobias Cowen Pickard’s smashing drum beats and tortured, shadowy force.
Sweeping sounds conjure vast, empty hallways as the wildly active percussion shatters and beats. Underneath a painful wave of bereft emotion is carried by a fluting instrument that drifts in diaphanous tendrils before falling silent.
Looming shadows rise above minor key notes to create a heavy atmosphere before “Broken Sins” erupts into motion with Layton Bergerud’s metallic guitar and a pipe organ which generates trepidation before Michael Longstaff's crushingly dark and menacing vocals repeat a chanting pattern.
The guitar cries as the drums and bass interlock with the pipe organ as it transmits the theme which deepens a sense of unhallowed evil. The rough edges of Michael Longstaff's voice are effective as seething sounds move with Kieron Wright’s dense bass guitar and insect-like noises chirr.
As the background rises with a crescendo, the rhythm accelerates and the horrifying sensations within the vocals capture the lyrics. Tobias Cowen Pickard’s percussion speeds before the wracked organ shines with uncanny luminosity and the chanted words carry a portent before the track glides into quiet.
"A broken man I was today, a broken man like yesterday" as the protagonist has all his feelings swept aside. He says "I'll hope and pray like yesterday that all these feelings go away." As his feelings are pushed away, he says " all the thoughts start to decay. "
“Talisman” begins with a spooky synth melody sliced into by Hannah Pellegrino and Layton Bergerud’s entangled guitars as Michael Longstaff's voice vibrates with doom-laden emotion as the beats burst firmly. Chanted vocals create a wickedly shadowy impression as the guitar charges fiercely, ripping forward as the drums propel the track.
Invoking all of the heavy blackness lurking in the hidden places of the world, Layton Bergerud’s guitar jangles and Tobias Cowen Pickard’s drums hit hard while the main theme combines explosive energy and Kieron Wright’s ominous bass undercurrent which adds deadly tension. The percussion pushes forward as the sinister voiceover carries the words out of the track drifts into a conclusion on tangled tones.
Trapped in sleep, the main character is "falling out of my mind, trying hard to think " as he's torn up inside. He urges the song's subject to take the talisman with him "when you see the other side" because it will guide him with "a beating heart to see, a burning will inside."
Our narrator tells the other person to take the talisman when they die and have it placed on their grave "for the other side." Their throbbing heart will be "replaced with a dying light" so he asks them to take his offering with the hope that it'll serve them well. He adds, "you will always be standing by my side."
Swept by menacing sounds and a blinding synth trumpet, “Lover Not A Biter” erupts into rushing life with grating tones slicing hard and the main theme reflecting hungry passion as an arpeggiation ramps up the level of tension in the distance. Tobias Cowen Pickard’s charging beat supports an undulating motif that cascades with spirit lights as fang-like sound crushes the softness around it, evoking a bloodthirsty desire.
Kieron Wright’s terrifyingly dense bass snarls like a barely contained beast before metallic notes charge. I feel ever-increasing fear seize my throat as Layton Bergerud’s guitar batters forward with scintillating sounds balancing the seething blackness pouring from below before the music stops.
“GORE!” boils with Layton Bergerud’s fearsome guitar and twanging synth echoing exotically as the kick drum batters with unbelievable weight and wordless vocals tremble. A pipe organ carries a dramatic theme, infused with awful foreboding while the ripping guitar slices like a knife.
The melody fades as a steady vibration moves with flute-like notes that drift like misty spirits while Tobias Cowen Pickard’s drums surge with hellish energy and a climbing synth pattern reaches a horrifying crescendo. I'm compelled by the guitar as it snarls and string-like tones howl a warning.
Lashed by Layton Bergerud and Hannah Pellegrino’s guitar storm, arpeggios wheel on an organ-like synth as quick breaths pant and the background towers with fearful intensity. An arpeggio unwinds, raising the level of terror to new heights before falling silent.
Slowly drifting, distorted notes tremble with barely concealed threat as “Sacred” swells into being as a distant synthesizer generates creeping discomfort and jangly, metallic sounds circle while Tobias Cowen Pickard’s crisp drums propel the music. Michael Longstaff’s voice hovers somewhere between singing and chanting, full of bleakness, while the drums and bass interlock energetically.
Faraway tones writhe as the chanting vocals capture me with their broken emptiness and a melody comes in, moving like a disembodied being. The chanting’s coldness conveys the mood within the lyrics as the drumbeat keeps up its guidance. Once more, a nervous sound cries out and emptiness of the words echoes with finality. Grating notes slice while the circling guitar and vibrating synthesizer intermingle. High notes scream while the final voice over creates an umbral blackness and the track ends.
The skies grow cold and gray with all the things our narrator was unable to say as he adds, "she likes words she can't explain, she's like beauty born from pain." As he lays alone with nowhere to go, he says he’s "a sacred soul" while ashes fall to the ground and distant angels call out like "something holy, something drowned." The song's subject sees heaven begin to fall and our narrator continues "here I lie all alone, nowhere to go. Here I lie, finally home, a sacred soul."
The storyteller wonders if the other person could forgive "a man who spent his whole life stealing, cheating, resorting to violence" and shoving his way through without any concern for the others before him. He asks, "Is this a man who's redeemable in the eyes of God or is this a man whose actions will reflect the life he'll live once he's gone?" and whose deepest fears will "reveal themselves at the gates."
