Our Own Masters

In a world where music has been growing increasingly beardy and serious, especially in the realm of metal, a band like Valient Thorr can be a breath of refreshing, albeit sweaty, air. On sixth album Our Own Masters, the Chapel Hill by way of Venus band continues to rock and rock hard, giving the feeling that these perennial road dogs pretty much only stop to refuel the van, give high fives, and occasionally record an album. If their life on the road is causing any wear and tear on them, Valient Thorr sure don't show it on the album, which has an invigorating quality about it that makes you want to immediately drop what you're doing, shotgun an energy drink, and air guitar along to the album's endless string of killer riffs until you pass out from exhaustion. What really works, though, is that Valient Thorr are able to deliver this kind of rockin' good time without feeling overly cheesy. Sure, some amount of cheese is not only expected, but welcome, yet the album never feels like a hard rock parody. At the end of the day, Our Own Masters is an album that's ridiculous without being ironic, and fun without being silly, making it an album that will not only appeal to the die-hard Thorriors out there, but also to anyone who appreciates heavy metal and hard rock and is not afraid to cut loose and have some fun every once in a while.