Band:	Wallachia
Album:	Monumental Heresy
Style:	Symphonic black metal
Release date:	April 13, 2018
A review by:	RaduP

01. Heathen Shores
02. So We Walk Alone
03. The Prophets Of Our Time
04. Silenced No Longer
05. The Parallel Fate Of Dreams
06. Beasts Of The Earth
07. Returned Favor Of Abandonment
08. Untruthology Abolished

Now before you accuse Wallachia of meddling too much in older sounds and late second-wave black metal influences instead of furthering the genre, just know that they've been around for quite a while. So that explains it.

Wallachia was formed in 1992, so they go waaay back. They're also from Norway and started as a one-man band. Released one demo and an album in the '90s and then started releasing more material in the last 10 years. Even had their live debut at a festival I attended. They're also named after an older name for the country I live in. Thus, this is a band way past its time and the reviewer is biased, right? I can't stop anyone from thinking that, but you may be missing out.

Wallachia does play around with a few influences in certain instances, like folkish choirs in "Heathen Shores", gothic female vocals and cellos in "The Parallel Fate Of Dreams", chamber cellos in "Returned Favor Of Abandonment", and wind instruments (or synths that sound like wind instruments) in "Untruthology Abolished", upon a backbone of symphonic melodic black metal reminiscent of Windir and Ancient Rites and maybe even a bit of early Dimmu Borgir. Nothing that hasn't been done before, really, but Monumental Heresy does make good use of the sounds it explores.

While I certainly think that the first couple of songs are great, the album does lose a bit of steam during the middle and the feeling that you've heard this before settles. But if you get past that feeling, the dynamics are fairly fluid and the drum performance is the one I'd give most praise too, especially for a certain section midway through the opening track; you'll know it when you hear it. Most of the songs push past the seven-minute mark easily without sounding overly stretched.

But all in all, Monumental Heresy is a pretty decent and somewhat nostalgic album that would've fit right in had it been released 20 years ago. Now it sounds misplaced. There are a lot of bands that play around with older sounds and yet don't feel that out of place. And even without that in mind, while some moments are great, there's nothing really that special to come back to.

Take a trip in the way back machine here.