Svartlod – The Reverend
Not a day goes by without discovering a new Swedish black metal band. This time its Svartlod, a new band which recently shared its debut The Reverend. I previously coincided with their first single Shiloah and thought its promising -especially for a newcomer with no label support. Since then, they contacted and shared their first record, so now I’ve got something completely new to talk about!
The Reverend has eight songs running around 40 minutes and directly quoting from them, “these eight songs tell the story of an unraveling religious cult with all tragedies and events associated with it (based on a true story)”. Indeed, it feels like a concept record, throwing different elements to create a sense of coherence and atmosphere.
The most interesting and possibly divisive trait of the band are vocals. If you’re a fan of vocalists like Nattramn (Silencer) or Onielar (Bethlehem), you’ll probably find vocals appealing. Holy Delusions kicks off with some atmospheric clean guitars, indistinct talking/prayers to set the mood and after that, Talitha Cum starts the real show with a memorable tremolo melody, blast-beats and all. It sounds like orthodox black metal though, reminding me bands like Batushka and I really loved it. Switching between clean preaching, high pitched shrieks and more traditional black metal style, vocals are really dominant and this does not change much throughout the record.
Shiloah is more of a mid-tempo stomper with cool bass lines and an unexpected solo. They clearly tried to diversify and although some riffs are just plain chuggings to my ear, each song has something different to offer to keep things interesting. After a 2-minute long interlude, Svartlod shows its faster, more aggressive side. The Devilish Reckoning Sound immediately stands out with some great blast-beats. However, its a bit too long and kinda loses its focus around 3:40. Its just a debut, so I won’t be so critical about the songwriting.
Loved the more melodic, melancholic second half of I am the Way as well, but the real jewel of the record is the epic closer Apostasia. Its over 9 minutes and its the longest track but it has some great death/black metal elements. I enjoyed the groovy chuggings at the beginning, and dramatic synthwork at the end too.
Svartlod showed some real potential here and The Reverend is a good beginning to a possible career. Songwriting/guitarwork is not particularly impressive, but there are some really memorable hooks and vocals are really diverse, and effective. If they get signed and get support from a relevant label, Svartlod might strengthen the ranks of Swedish black metal.
