Valley of the Damned
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Valley of the Damned | ||||
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Valley of the Damned is the debut
Production
The initial demo was recorded on 8 – 12 October and then mixed on 20 2000 at Thin Ice Studios with Karl Groom engineering. The rerecording for the album in 2002 mostly took place at Thin Ice Studios in Surrey, by Karl Groom, and at Lamer Luser Studios in London, by Herman Li, from May – October 2002. It was then mixed by Karl Groom, Herman Li and Sam Totman at Thin Ice Studios and mastered at Aubitt Studio by Rob Aubrey and Herman Li.
Reception
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [2] |
The
In 2019, Metal Hammer ranked it as the 10th best power metal album of all time.[3]
When asked about his thoughts of the album in a 2015 interview, Herman Li said:[4]
Maybe 10 years ago, I would've said; 'I wish we'd done this and that.', but these days not really. I've learned and experienced a lot in life and you understand that if you get the perfect album the first time, there's no way to go. It's all about learning and experiencing and you always build on what you did before and learn from it and make better albums. I think it was the best we could come up with back then. It's got that energy, that we wouldn't be able to create if we re-recorded those songs. It wouldn't be the same.
Track listing
"Invocation of Apocalyptic Evil" contains a sample of "Malignant" from the soundtrack of Doom. "Black Fire" contains a sample of Kazunaka Yamane's theme from the Double Dragon video game series. The 2010 remastered edition physical copy contains a bonus DVD that includes interviews with the band members and producer Karl Groom on the making of the album, live footage of Valley of the Damned from their first Japanese tour in 2004, the backstage footage of the same show, two commentaries (one from Herman Li and Vadim Pruzhanov, and one from ZP Theart and Groom), and footage from the recording and mixing sessions for the album in Denmark.
No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Invocation of the Apocalyptic Evil" (Instrumental) | Vadim Pruzhanov | 0:15 | |
2. | "Valley of the Damned" |
| Totman | 7:12 |
3. | "Black Fire" |
| Totman | 5:47 |
4. | "Black Winter Night" |
| Totman | 6:30 |
5. | "Starfire" |
| Totman | 5:54 |
6. | "Disciples of Babylon" | Theart | Li | 7:17 |
7. | "Revelations" |
| Totman | 6:52 |
8. | "Evening Star" |
| Li | 6:40 |
9. | "Heart of a Dragon" |
| Totman | 5:24 |
Total length: | 51:51 |
No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
10. | "Where Dragons Rule" (included as a regular track on the 2010 re-release) |
|
| 5:50 |
Total length: | 57:41 |
No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
11. | "Evening Star" (Demo) |
| Li | 6:22 |
12. | "Heart of a Dragon" (Demo) |
| Totman | 5:26 |
Total length: | 69:29 |
Personnel
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Charts
Chart (2003) | Peak position |
---|---|
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[5] | 75 |
References
- Allmusic. Retrieved 3 August 2008.
- ^ a b Monger, J.C. Allmusic Review accessed 14 April 2011
- ^ Chantler, Chris (14 November 2019). "The 25 greatest power metal albums". Metal Hammer. Future plc. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
- ^ Müller-Hansen, Niclas (29 March 2015). "DRAGONFORCE: Intervju med Herman Li". Rocksverige (in English and Swedish). Retrieved 9 April 2015.
- ISBN 4-87131-077-9.