ALBUM REVIEW: Atropos – Vouna
From the Cascadian mountains comes VOUNA, the autonomous project of Yianna Bekris. The EIGENLICHT and VRADIAZEI guitarist started the project in 2018, releasing both demo and debut in the very same year. Bekris drew on the bleak majesty of her surroundings to create a distinctly Cascadian fusion of blackened doom, which aimed at an ambitious scale whilst retaining a relatively raw production, and made judicious use of the synthesiser throughout. The self-titled full-length was notable for its release on Artemisia Records, making it the first and (presently) only other project on the WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM curated imprint. Moreover, the album was recorded at Owl Lodge (the band’s ‘headquarters’,) and the production was overseen by both Aaron and Nathan Weaver; VOUNA appeared to be an offshoot bough of the towering WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM trunk, and whilst there are aesthetic affinities between the two, Bekris asserted her own identity through sprawling compositions delivered slowly.
Atropos sees the offshoot bough developing roots and becoming its own tree. VOUNA has enjoyed obscurity for three years, and that looks set to change as the project emerges from beneath Artemisia’s wing and joins the Profound Lore roster. Sweetly sung vocals at the top of leading single Highest Mountain signal a burgeoning confidence in Bekris, which spills over into every other element in VOUNA. Perhaps the most significant change is in the arrangement, where the guitar now supersedes the synthesizer as the primary melodic instrument.
That increased presence is accompanied by more weight in the mix and a satisfying purring timbre, which aligns VOUNA more closely with the conventions of the genre. More than WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM, the project could now be compared to those other arch Olympians BELL WITCH, whose gravely tempo and tone is writ large throughout Atropos. There is still plenty of the dynamic play which gave the debut its distinctive character; moments of intensity where the drums build up from a funereal pace to something more frenetic.
Vanish is a truly astonishing piece of music. A thunderous blackened doom anthem (featuring Nathan Weaver’s vocals) which layers synthesiser on violin to create something truly mesmerizing. VOUNA’s production is finally a match for Bekris’ ambition here, and the song casts a long shadow over the rest of the album. Atropos takes its name from the Greek goddess of fate who, in cutting short the thread of life, rendered us mortal. The bleakness and finality of death is a well-worn trope in doom metal (some might say timeless) but Bekris inflects that morbidity with the intangible, lush and organic atmosphere which radiates from her synthesizer.
Second single Grey Sky is dark and tumultuous; a call-back to the atmosphere of the first album, and an arduous mid-album listen which more than redeems itself with Bekris’ sensational closing vocal performance. Closing piece What Once Was is, by necessity, epic in sound and scale. The rapturous climax builds over a quarter of an hour, picking out leitmotifs from before, and steadily leading its listener towards the calibre of conclusion only doom metal can do. It’s the sort of song-writing which makes an album cohesive rather than memorable, but remarkably sophisticated by the standards of a second album.
Atropos represents a refinement of VOUNA’s distinctive blackened doom style and expands on all those elements which made the self-titled debut so characterful. Bekris still worships at the altar of the 90s synthesizer, but has brought the guitars forward on this album for a fuller and heavier overall sound, and adds authentic folk and orchestral accompaniment to achieve a more ambitious production. With Atropos, VOUNA has become another bright light in the Cascadian metal constellation.
Rating: 9/10
Atropos is out now via Profound Lore.
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