Almost every era has its trends. Who can forget Black Metal in earlier years, after that the female vocalists Metal (if I can say that) with bands like NIGHTWISH, (even though I don't think that this is a Metal band), EPICA etc and then, till nowadays, Gothic Metal and now a trend tending to lean towards Death Metal?

Even though GRAVES OF VALOR is a new band, they were formed in 2005, but most of its members are not new to our scene, since three of them were into THROUGH THE EYES OF THE DEAD. As you can see their bio is poorer than my CV in astrophysics! The only thing that I can mention is the release of an EP in 2007, called Famine.

In their debut full-length album, Salarian Gate, (probably referring to the gate in the Aurelian Walls of Rome, Italy from where the Goth king Alaric I entered Rome to begin the famous Sack of Rome in 410), the band plays in-your-face Death Metal, with the exception of the last song, No Gods Left where they slow down and someone could have said that it is almost into doom! Overall the album is not bad. You won't find anything wrong with the CD, but on the other hand Salarian Gate doesn't have anything new to give. You can take a look at your CDs and you will find many albums like this one. When you are listening to GRAVES OF VALOR's debut album, bands like JOB FOR A COWBOY and WHITECHAPEL will come to mind.

 In any case, Salarian Gate is not a bad release It's just an average one. And with all those releases nowadays, you have to record an album that is at least above average to make some impression. So until these guys make it to the next step...