Cdatakill is a band that certainly isn't among my favourites, but made quite a name by combining several genres and ideas. Both Cdatakill and the label Ad Noiseam are becoming more and more popular in both noise/industrial and the d'n'b-scene and it's clear "Valentine" can only strenghten this position. The biography mentions 'a very mature, interesting and beautiful album full of surprises and intensity'. Let's see..

Besides of the rough sound here and there, it's obvious that Cdatakill made progression since the last album, "The Cursed Species", and goes on in creating a hybrid of beats, clicks, cuts, sounds and samples. The way this is brought is not often beat-orientated but the general beats are pushed more to the back, whilst melody lines - call it a collage of sounds if you like - built up out of slow ambience, subtle guitars and even Egyptian influences are placed to the front. By doing this, "Valentine" demonstrates how splintered the breakcore-genre actually is, as I find it hard to compare with the wellknown names that pop up in my mind when you say 'breakcore'. It is however this what distuingishes Cdatakill from the rest, and Zak Roberts clearly demonstrates that by combining guitars with the mentioned Egyptian sounds ("Nefertiti Dub") or by adding more ambient-influences ("Arapahoe County Sunset") he knows how to combine styles and therewith jump out of the masses.

The beats are subtle, electronic sounds are combined with several instruments and the result is a very good album. Even the Billie Holiday-cover "Yesterdays" is a good song now, and without really pushing the limits, Cdatakill proves he's back on track with something not a lot of artists can do. 'A very mature, interesting and beautiful album full of surprises and intensity'; not one word is a lie.