Valence
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Valence

New Rochelle, New York, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2010 | SELF

New Rochelle, New York, United States | SELF
Established on Jan, 2010
Band Rock Progressive

Calendar

Music

Press


"Spotify Friday Review #121: Valence – Laser Baron"

"All I can say is that Valence is rapidly developing into one of the most intelligent and compelling heavy progressive bands out there"

"Laser Baron will easily leave you wanting more so just put it on repeat and I’m sure you’ll dig it even more after you hear it 3 more times at least!"

"9/10" - Prog Metal Zone


"Baldwin’s August Review Trilogy Part 1: A Review of Valence’s Sleepwalker"

"Holy shit, I’ve never been as impressed with a local band as I was with Valence’s performance. They smashed Fiddler’s Green here in Stamford with a very intense, musically precise and thoroughly entertaining show. Even their stage presence was impressive. They managed to pull off a humorous assortment of funny facial expressions and head-banging motions while performing music that normally requires incredible concentration. Not only was it entertaining, but it showed that the band has a refreshing attitude towards their pretentious attributes. They don’t take themselves TOO seriously, unlike many bands of their ilk."

"Everybody in the place had eyes forward when they played, and there were many mouths agape, including my own. If you haven’t seen them live, do yourselves a fucking favor and go. And then you can quit your own band." - Alternative Control


"Review: "Valence: Laser Baron""

"If you love some of the acrobatic, complex, and heavy material of current acts like Scale the Summit, Between the Buried & Me, and Animals as Leaders, this is a band you need to check out. "

"If you don't have Valence on your radar yet, you need to do so." - Sea of Tranquility


"Valence - Laser Baron Review"

"VALENCE’s new EP is like a miniature symphony, it flows, the second “movement” is slower than the first, and, well, all I’m trying to say is that I took one semester of music theory and VALENCE clearly knows what they are doing as far as composition is concerned."

"Putting the album on repeat is like being swallowed into a wormhole, it’s easy to turn this seventeen-minute album into forty-five minute one."

"Laser Baron is a solid, calculated album that bonds many genres and influences into one stable, prog-based element of modern melodic metal." - Metal Temple


"New Music Review: Valence - Laser Baron"

"Both Michael Buonanno and Geoffrey Schaefer have inspired and killer guitar chops. They're wizards in the best sense of the word, but they arrange music and play in the band context in such a way that sounds so good you forget that they are really, really good. Laser Baron, a short three song EP, gives a taste of their skillful fret work, backed up by the terrific tight rhythm section of Chris Romano on drums and Ian Morris on bass, and wrapped up in flippin' riff monster, groovasaurus, progressive arrangements blasting sharp leads with the accuracy of the laser in question."

"But it's not all blistering and face-melting guitar buzz. Valence will give you some mellow like the world flavored intermission just over the half way point of Laser Baron. Then it's back to shredding your eardrums. Nearly the entirety of Wormhole explores prog rock fusion, leaving the heavy flurry to the closing minutes. The Reckoning returns the brisk shredding progressive metal where riffs fall like a meteor shower and leads fly like so many sparks from a fire." - Danger Dog Music Reviews


"Emails from Near and Far: Reviews of Unscarred and Valence"

“Laser Baron takes the listener on an ever-changing (or is it?!) instrumental journey. Just when a song gets really far off into space, a cleverly woven melodic theme brings listeners back to the mother ship. As someone who rarely listens to instrumental music and almost always dislikes prog, Valence won me over.” - Alternative Control


"Get a load of Valence"

“When you’re an instrumental progressive rock outfit with metal leanings, good fuck you’d better know how to play your fucking instruments. Luckily, Valence — a four-piece from right outside New York City — know how to play. Like, really well.” - Gunshy Assassin


"Valence - Laser Baron"

"Valence takes it to the next level, there's lots of heavy and melodic riffs and killer tempos. I really can't wait for their full-lenght. Everyone into some seriously instrumental music should pick this up. "

"It's cool to hear some bands still playing this kind of stuff. This band has a lot of diversity which will surely torch your mind. Amazing!!" - Soulgrinder Zine


"Valence: Sleepwalker"

“Valence not only have the musical chops, but there are also some catchy melodies here which make for a pleasing listen.”

“the band don't go all out progressive metal all the time, instead they also inject some atmospheric prog and tasty jazz-fusion into their sound which makes for a well rounded listening experience.”

“this is solid stuff from a band I'm sure we'll be hearing more of in the future.” - Sea of Tranquility


"VALENCE: SLEEPWALKER"

“...it's not all just a twin guitar attack ripping up their respective fret boards. No, each song moves with the ebbs and flows, twists and turn, that make progressive rock so intriguing.”

“Valence's Sleepwalker is strong release, both entertaining and intriguing, and certainly a fine first achievement for the and. Recommended.” - Danger Dog Music Reviews


"Valence Performance and Chat"

“it’s so intricate but so beautiful... you guys take the listener for a journey, but it’s a very smooth, beautiful ride.”

“What I’ve seen from you guys is you’re very passionate, and I know you were just playing in a cheesebox back there, but there’s a lot of energy coming out of you guys, you become one with the music, and people really hone in on that. When they see people loving it, they think ‘I gotta get into this too’”

“There’s a certain level of confidence in them, you find that in really good bands. I mean, they’re local, but they’re not going to be local for long.” - Zedalza New York


"Spotify Friday Progressive Metal #52 – Valence"

“after having heard the album a bunch of times, the melodies, varied moods and sonic textures have really stuck with me”

“I really like Sleepwalker a lot with its unique fusion of genres.  The use of two guitars is very cool as each takes on a different role sonically and they do play very well off of each other."

"has proven itself to me to be a very rewarding listening experience... give Sleepwaker a true immersive listen” - Prog Metal Zone


"Valence - "Sleepwalker""

“The music unrolls continuously over well-defined themes that Valence mazes together in complex and dynamic arrangements, with many surprising passages.”

“...machinegun drumming and byzantine guitar & bass parts that parallel Rush”

“Sleepwalker is an outstanding debut album, from a very promising band that features a playing team that hovers above the average.” - Progressive Rock & Progressive Metal Ezine


"Valence - Sleepwalker 2012 review on vascark.hu"

"...long-evolving, but sufficiently imaginative instrumental compositions... "

"...wilder and technically more acute than even Mastodon's music..."

"...simply a pleasure to listen to every minute of the material... 9/10"

(Translated by Google Chrome from the original Hungarian) - Vaskarc


Discography

Laser Baron (EP) - June 2014

"The Reckoning" was awarded "Best Metal/Hardcore Song" at the 14th Annual Independent Music Awards.  The title track has been played on numerous radio stations, including WSOU Seton Hall, and WEMF in Boston.  The album can be streamed here: http://valence.bandcamp.com

1. Laser Baron 5:22
2. Wormhole 4:31
3. The Reckoning 6:23

Sleepwalker - June 2012

The entire record was played through from to back on TBFM online, and the track "Tempest Tides..." was featured or requested several weeks in a row on WSOU 89.5 out of Seton Hall, NJ. "Tempest Tides..." was also performed live on air on Zedalza, NY online.

1. Sleepwalker 3:17
2. The Depths 7:19
3. To Dust, Across Dimensions 3:09
4. Tempest Tides... 3:20
5. ...Burned to Desert 3:40
6. From Ashes, Reborn 3:07
7. Winds of Zephyr 5:34
8. Lucid Dream 5:14

Photos

Bio

Valence is a breath of fresh air for anyone tired of music formulated to fit into a box, and longs for an unadulterated form of musical expression.  It’s usually labeled Progressive Metal, but that alone doesn’t do the music justice, defying genres it blends in a disparate array of influences from metal to progressive rock to jam and more.  It’s about not limiting the language of expression to one style of music or another, but more about finding the finesse to fuse these influences into something new and modern that still feels cohesive.


Recently, the band won an Independent Music Award for their song “The Reckoning,” the closing track from the band’s 2014 EP Laser Baron, which has been described as “like a miniature symphony” (Metal Temple) and “what an instrumental album should sound like” (Metal Gallows).  It’s a strong follow up to their 2012 debut LP Sleepwalker, which itself was lauded for it’s “many 180 degree turns in song structure, multiple time signature shifts and a whole heap of anthemic drama. It’s exciting, engaging music.” (Alternative Control)


Between the awards and rave reviews, the band has developed a reputation as a crushing force in the greater New York City area’s live music scene.  They’ve opened for Angel Vivaldi, Consider the Source, Andrew WK, Kayo Dot, and played the official afterparty for Clutch and The Sword at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY.  Their live shows and tours have taken them all across the Northeastern US, and as far north as Toronto, Canada for the NXNE music festival.  The band is currently in preproduction for a new record that, characteristically, takes their music into new directions with new instruments, effects, and inspirations.  The band will be going into the studio sometime around the new year, but in the meantime you can hear the band’s evolution in sound at one of their many upcoming shows.

Band Members