The Awakening is the sort of gloriously triumphant Finnish black metal that so many of us have sought since we first started digging into this music. Valaravn have crafted a sound that is epic and addictive. Just look at their album art and you get a sense for the scope of their music, focused as it is on times forgot, epic ancient struggles and utterly transcendent and imaginative black metal. The Awakening showcases a band with a clear vision leaving listeners in awe of what has been unveiled to them as they dig into this abyss.
The touches of melody and death metal muscle that help to sculpt this album turn it into something almost poetic. The Awakening has a sense of breadth you don't often get from the frequently monochromatic Finnish black metal scene. Instead this album focuses on some surprisingly pretty guitar playing that still remains firmly in the melodic black metal camp, never really straying towards post black sounds. What you end up with is a deep and emotionally intense record that is going to keep you coming back, excited for the bitter visions that Valaravn lay out all across this record. It's black metal done to keep you entranced - what more can you want?
Pre-order the album!
No comments:
Post a Comment