Valletta are a brand new black ‘n roll outfit from Raleigh, North Carolina, formed just over a year ago. Their members include their namesake, drummer Justin Valletta, as well as guitarist/vocalist Keenan Carroll, lead guitarist Will Goodyear and bassist Donald Boyd, all four of them extreme metal veterans. After four single releases, they unveiled their debut EP, Come Alive.

Across the six tracks on this release, Valletta present a meat-and-potatoes style of black ‘n roll filled with infectious grooves, catchy riffs and even catchier choruses. It all begins with the title track “Come Alive,” which opens with a tasty lead-guitar riff sounding straight out of a Tribulation record. The Tribulation influence shines bright throughout the majority of this EP, in fact, though other sounds come through as well.

Perhaps the clearest other inspiration is the extreme-metal-tinged groove and pitched screams of later Gojira records, which show up subtly throughout the album, most of all in the second track, “Serpents of Solomon.” Black metal comes through the most with the tremolo picks in “Criminal” and there is also a touch of classic death-doom in the final track, “Bringing the Worst.” Valletta’s mix of thicker, groovier elements with the modern black ‘n roll sound does a lot to make their sound fresh and gripping. 

Come Alive is greater than the sum of its influences, though, thanks to its rock solid instrumental performances and satisfying songwriting. Every track on this EP absolutely rocks, because the sick black ‘n roll riffs are backed up by tight rhythms and rich tone across all band members. A particularly important part of the sound is Boyd’s bass playing, which is astonishingly thick when you pay attention to it, making headbanging to each song all the more irresistible.

In their songwriting, Valletta does a great job of using all the most satisfying bits of each song as much as they can without making things too repetitive; they manage to maintain the pace of most songs in each of their parts (one exception is “Saint,” which has an unnecessarily long filler section. It’s as if there was meant to be a drum solo, but the band scrapped it.). The production also deserves a mention: every instrument is easy to hear and the vocals punch through just right, but nothing gets snuffed, which is impressive considering that this is a debut EP.

To sum it all up, Come Alive is a catchy and satisfying effort that deserves the attention of all fans of the black ‘n roll sub-sub-genre and that will likely please most metalheads in general. Every track goes hard and they each differ enough in their influences (some lean more to the black metal side, some more to the rock-y side, some more to the groove side) to keep the full listen-through experience interesting. The riffs and choruses are even more fun if you already know them too, which makes re-listening worthwhile. One thing is that there isn’t much in this album that fans of black ‘n roll haven’t already heard, because it mostly stays true to the style of current bands like Tribulation. 

Come Alive is not a revolutionary experience, but it is a strong debut by a band that knows what they’re doing. Hopefully Valletta can take the successes of this EP and use them as a foundation for more experimental ventures in the future.