Formed 33 years ago, this shall be the Swedish quartet’s 8th album, 4 years since their last release. Their brand of melodic doom with a touch of death has plenty of clean vocals by guitarists Daniel Brynste and Crister Olsson, with bassist Jimmy Mattsson taking care of the death growls while Victor Parri plays the drums. All 7 songs on the album are reasonably long, which allows them to fully develop as they are played.
They released a video for the opener “The Songs of the Whales”, and it’s even more laid back than the actual song, but that doesn’t stop it being as majestic as the title implies. Brynste’s vocals are excellent, as Olsson lets the guitar notes linger over the slow but steady timekeeping.
Rather lullaby-like “Forgive Me” has a lead that flows behind everything else for the duration of the song, while Parri’s feet are a constant tickety-tack on the kick drum, even though his hands are maintaining a rather sedate tempo on the remainder of the drums.
“Monotonic Scream” is the first time we hear of Mattsson’s slowly delivered growl on this funereal paced dirge, and only in the last twenty seconds at that.
The way Brynste and Olsson’s vocals play off each other on “Twisted Games” is just as effective as when Brynste and Mattsson’s vocals do, while the music keeps its eerie vide throughout.
A quick drum roll and the gentle guitar riff builds slowly before dropping back to a mellow melody that carries through “In Abundance”, as the clean vocals add a morose quality that the growls quell with a touch of anger.
The acoustic guitars used on “Open Your Mind” add a beautiful haunted edge to the sorrowful singing, which takes on a slighter happier tone once the guitars get heavier and more allegro.
The album ends with “Vanity”, as it plods along at a perilously slow pace that eventually fades back into the opening song, as I have the album on loop.
Very pleasant to listen to on the whole, even when the songs begin to blend into each other a little.
(7/10 Marco Gaminara)
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