Negura Bunget has been one of those avant garde type of blackened metal bands that has often been recommended to me but I've yet to hear an album that has really taken me by the socks and shaken me down. But apparently at some point in the mid 2000s, that band had a bit of turmoil, resulting in a pair of members leaving the band while Negura Bunget's drummer forged onwards with new musicians. The departing duo ultimately put together their own project, calling it Dordeduh (the name comes from Romanian, but feels somewhat clumsy to my neanderthal English ears). This offshoot project has so far just released this teaser EP and I must say it has caught my attention more than any Negura Bunget album. Now, I'm not trying to start a media war between these bands that will get the Twitter world all agasp, but for my tastes, I am finding Dordeduh much more interesting.

The two songs on Valea Omului aren't anything that fans of modern metal haven't heard before. Dordeduh isn't trying to reinvent the better mousetrap, but the pair of songs here demonstrate these guys have a strong grasp on songwriting and good arrangements. There are plenty of atmospheric sections and good builds within, good clean vocals and of course the standard raspy ones. The second song, "Cumpat", is excellent.

Dordeduh appears to have positioned themselves to move in nearly any music direction they want in the future. There are elements of their background in Negura Bunget but plenty of more contemporary elements such as the shoegazer DNA strand that more bands are demonstrating. The one drawback of this EP is that it is merely thirteen minutes and I suspect many listeners will definitely want to hear more. I certainly count myself among that group. Valea Omului is a nice, solid debut for this experienced band.

Review by John Chedsey

Review date: 08/2011

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