Svartsyn - Wrath Upon The Earth
Sweden's black metal veterans are back... and no it is not Marduk. Svartsyn is still headed by frontman Ornias who is just as blasphemous as ever with his guitar melodies and vocal assault, but enlists the help of session members to help him out. Zoran van Bellegem handles bass duties while fellow bandmate from Satyrus, Baruch van Bellegem, deals with drums and the keyboards. One can look back all the way to 1998 at Svartsyn's debut, and then trace the album lineage through the ages to see how far this band has come. It's fast and aggressive, like Marduk and Dark Funeral, but the production is a bit better so mostly everything can be heard.
The album begins with an apocalyptic intro that is very orchestral and features impressive drumming. As the album goes on fans will notice that the drums are the best part of the music as they range from full on blastbeats in typical black metal fashion to slow, warlike thumps that really help with the atmosphere of the album, such as on "Wrath Of Leviathan." When they are in full raging mode such as with "Deathsworned" they are not as appreciated as much, but that is rare; usually they are very rhythmic. The guitars flow together seamlessly and can tend to get boring when they aren't shredding, but the tremolo picked solos add for some variation when there is a break or two in the riffs. The keyboards are sadly nowhere to be heard, thanks to the guitars. The vocals are sort of a easy-going snarl that fit the music very nicely, and don't take away too much from the cohesion of the album as a whole versus how some vocals either make or break albums.
"Blood Temples" almost feels like it has a bit of a doomy pace to it with the slow, chugging formation of the guitars, and the begrudging vocals make things even scarier, especially when they hold a lot of reverb to them. "He Who Knows" is a more basic black metal track that starts out heavy and then near the middle slows down for a bit more rhythm and melody, but the drums just don't really seem to keep it together like they do on the other tracks where they added great varied pace and style. Here they just feel like someone set the kit on autopilot because there was a bathroom break needed. Nevertheless, Svartsyn make themselves heard with this album, and quite clearly too. Black metal fans should NOT get bored with this one bit at all.
The album begins with an apocalyptic intro that is very orchestral and features impressive drumming. As the album goes on fans will notice that the drums are the best part of the music as they range from full on blastbeats in typical black metal fashion to slow, warlike thumps that really help with the atmosphere of the album, such as on "Wrath Of Leviathan." When they are in full raging mode such as with "Deathsworned" they are not as appreciated as much, but that is rare; usually they are very rhythmic. The guitars flow together seamlessly and can tend to get boring when they aren't shredding, but the tremolo picked solos add for some variation when there is a break or two in the riffs. The keyboards are sadly nowhere to be heard, thanks to the guitars. The vocals are sort of a easy-going snarl that fit the music very nicely, and don't take away too much from the cohesion of the album as a whole versus how some vocals either make or break albums.
"Blood Temples" almost feels like it has a bit of a doomy pace to it with the slow, chugging formation of the guitars, and the begrudging vocals make things even scarier, especially when they hold a lot of reverb to them. "He Who Knows" is a more basic black metal track that starts out heavy and then near the middle slows down for a bit more rhythm and melody, but the drums just don't really seem to keep it together like they do on the other tracks where they added great varied pace and style. Here they just feel like someone set the kit on autopilot because there was a bathroom break needed. Nevertheless, Svartsyn make themselves heard with this album, and quite clearly too. Black metal fans should NOT get bored with this one bit at all.
- Intro
- Wrath Of Leviathan
- My Mountain
- Deathsworned
- Dawn Of Triumph
- Pyramids Of Deathlight
- Bloodtemples
- He Who Knows
