ALBUM REVIEW: Spring In Blue – Svnth
If you were being honest with yourself, and were seriously considering the number of bands that posses a genuinely idiosyncratic sound, it’s fair to assume that you’d be able to name those acts on a single hand. Most bands have a tendency to either borrow from those who came before them, or emulate the style of one of their contemporaries. Italy’s SVNTH do not fall into this category. Their music is a noxious blend of everything from black metal to country music, something that sets the bands apart from the extreme metal pack. For evidence, look no further than the bands third full length, Spring In Blue, and album that flirts with a concoction of different influences, resulting in what is arguably one of the more impressive records of the year.
Who is the Dreamer?, a short, instrumental piece, sets the listener up for the bleak, melodic music to come, providing a great opening gambit for the record. Erasing God’s Towers proves to be a track that is dripping with atmosphere, coupling a heady ambience with the sparse leads and acoustic flourishes that make for an incredibly engrossing feel, with some well placed sliding guitars giving this an immersive feel. Morse melodies inject slick hooks into this melancholic masterpiece, resulting in an excellent start to the album proper.
Parallel Layers, much like its predecessor, have just the right amount of country influence peppered throughout the atmospheric black metal within it to add a powerful, hazy aspect to the music, with catchy guitars and varied percussion aiding this song no end. Much like the previous song, it’s thoroughly engrossing, and extremely hard not to love, in spite of its more subdued and measured musical approach.
Wings of the Ark is by far and away the heaviest track on the record, with a denser guitar tone, harsher vocals and a significantly more intense pace giving this a much harsher sound initially. The music gradually lapses into more sublime territories, with cleaner guitars and a steadier tempo, making for a song that is brutal and grandiose in equal measure. Chaos Spiral in Reverse is pure atmospheric black metal with a grating, dissonant side, shifting seamlessly from a tighter, bombastic sound to a juddering, frenetic one, creating a sound that ebbs and flows between the two styles, keeping the listener enthralled throughout. Sons of Melancholia follows in much the same vein as the previous song, tying together gargantuan guitar hooks, solid drumming and caustic vocals, jumping from the softer, more sanguine moments and the far more abrasive, discordant elements with aplomb. It’s a great track that makes use of the myriad influences within SVNTH‘s sound, and a variety of tones, to bring this album to a close on a fantastic note.
If there’s any reference for this album’s sound, it lies not in a genre, but an album; specifically, GODSPEED YOU! BALCK EMPEROR‘s brilliant 2017 album Luciferian Towers. Even the album artwork is reminiscent of the aforesaid album, without being too overt. The excellent mix of black metal, country and ambient makes this record a varied and heady mix of styles, with no single one dominating the sound, and the polished nature of the production only serves to make this album all the more beguiling. This is arguably SVNTH‘s defining effort to date, and will hopefully see them gain a foothold within the scene at large.
Rating: 9/10
Spring In Blue is out now via Transcending Records.
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