And the Swedish quintet VALKYRJA comes back to the attack, and with their third CD, "The Antagonist's Fire", they really show a musical style that deserves our attention.

They're a Black Metal band, but they know how to sound dark and morbid, but as well as aggressive and harsh, doing their music with some good melodies and technique, using long songs (only one of the seven from the album has lesser than 5 minutes) to show an amount of grunt and harsh vocals (sometimes, the singer reminds Mortuus, from MARDUK), very good guitars (fines riffs and great solos), bass and drums always heavy and with good technique, and these elements form an alchemy very particular of the band.

T. Stjerna is the producer of the album (as well as the one who mixed and did the mastering), a guy who worked with the band before (and with WATAIN, AVERSE SEFIRA and a lot of others), and knows very well how to make a Black Metal band has to sound, harsh and raw, but with quality, so the band's aggressiveness appears very well as the instruments are clear and strong. And Costin Chioreanu did a good artwork, who breathes the band's music.

All tracks are fine, but the best ones are "Betrayal Incarnate" (very, very good riffs), the excellent "The Cremating Fire" (again with fine guitars, along with great vocals), the wonderful "Yearn to Burn" (the tempo changes are a constant, as well as they bass and drums are massive as Hell), "Eulogy (Poisoned, Ill and Wounded)" (a morbid and intense song, again with great vocals), and the ten minutes masterpiece "Treading the Path of the Predator".

Buy it, shake your heads and prepare for Armageddon!