Sarvekas’s debut opus Woven Dark Paths has been making the rounds in the black metal circles recently, to numerous accolades. That’s why, dear reader, I decided to give it a spin, and let my extremely biased opinion dissect it.

But first things first. Is it really a black metal album if it doesn’t have a creepy intro song? So, Woven Dark Paths certainly checks this box. And not only is there one there, but also it is short, sweet, and sufficiently creepy.

Piece numéro deux starts off very Marduk-y with vocal mixing à la Bolzer. It’s a definitely a machismo black metal anthem, albeit a rather underwhelming one. This sort of continues, with some variation for the next five songs, before it concludes with a (you guessed it) sufficiently creepy atmospheric outro.

It’s what’s in between these two textbook black metal album monoliths that I’ve found to be slightly unsatisfactory. I’ve come to expect a certain level of excellence in experimentation from the Finnish scene. And suspicious ideologies. But I shall leave this aspect out of this review, for fear it’ll turn into an essay.

The thing is, Finnish black metal has this je ne sais quoi that ensures certified banger status for most releases of the quality grade of Sarvekas. So I’m almost flabbergasted when I come across one lacking this status. For a brief moment on a couple of occasions, towards the end of the fourth piece, Embers of Pagan Fire, and towards the end of the seventh, Sparing Over The Battlefields, I doubted my criticism of this record, and with good measure. These two have some catchy hooks. But, having listened to this album more than ten times now, hoping to get into it more and more, I’m very sad to report my initial opinion has hardly changed. It’s just too samey. War metal blasts overwhelm the entirety of the record, and, I, the blast beats aficionado, have found myself wishing for a reprieve.

Woven Dark Paths would, however, be a more than satisfactory effort for anyone whose taste is even mildly more diverse than mine. And, if I didn’t have to review this album, I’d have certainly liked it more myself. It’s a very one-off listen, but an entertaining one at that.

(6/10 The Flâneur)

https://www.facebook.com/sarvekas

https://soulsellerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/woven-dark-paths