Qharinth - The Valley of Humiliation & Contempt

Malaysian black metallers Qharinth are yet another band trying their hands at this symphonic black metal trend permeating the pool. With somewhat happy keyboards and just plain “up” tempos throughout that dilute the feel of the album, The Valley of Humiliation & Contempt reads more like a how-to-not-do-black-metal-music as opposed to furthering the already-stagnant genre.
There are some catchy guitar solos here and there, but sadly there is little in the way of real majesty or charm here.

I’m not exactly sure what this current movement of black metal is supposed to convey, but where I come from black metal is unhappy, brutal, cold, sardonic and depressing music for likeminded people or people that just enjoy channeling these emotions in a safe element. This album conveys none of those things, save for the raspy screeching vocals which may well be on a Killswitch Engage album than on anything black these days. To be honest, I’m sick to death of these subpar bands polluting the scene with rudimentary, lethargic music and calling it black metal. You are NOT black metal; you are capitalizing on a trend. I implore you to stop the madness already. With all of the keys being so cheery and the guitar tone so downright bright, what is the point of calling it black metal? Adding “symphonic” only makes you sound more ridiculous when mock symphonies are all you have to cover up a complete waste of talent. These guys are talented, it’s a fact, but the same thing over and over has got to be stopped somewhere. The EP is not even remotely interesting.  

As for this album, it isn’t much in the way of black metal as I said. There are some decent hooks here and there, but overall the simplistic and lazy style just ruins any mood I might have had for the music. Black metal is a state of mind, a soul-stirring frame within which we seek refuge from the typicality of watery heavy metal music and Top 40 garbage. When any vocalist can screech his or her way through songs that rape Euronymous’ tremolo picking style to a disgusting degree that doesn’t make it black metal. It’s even worse when little or no true blueprint is put into place for the music at hand, which not only insults the fan and fellow musician, but, again, infects the pool with murky, gray water. I’ll tell you that this is a true waste of 20-minutes of my life! Everything that has been done to death has been done here as well, but with even less of a concentrated effort, and that in and of itself is offensive enough for me to stand up and scream “ENOUGH!”

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*Comments:

December 13, 2010

Reviewer: Chris

Release Date:  2010
Label: Crambeat Records

TRACK LISTING

1.  Unholy Alliance
2.  Thus the Vengeance Upon
3.  Darkness Enlighten
4.  Catastrophic Contempt
     (Eternal Quantum)
5.  The Deathstone’s Heron
6.  Grieves to the Grave

Total playing time:  20:08