Svarti Loghin - Drifting Through The Void

In one of my numerous daily conversations with my writing/business partner and the musical savant Racer X, I made mention that I was kinda’ digging this weird little niche of music that thankfully bears no title. As a description, I stated that it’s like a bunch of ambient black metallers were going through their parents record collections and deciding that they wanted to play 70’s style progressive and psychedelic rock . . . or maybe it’s vice versa. 70’s music lovers playing modern atmospheric black metal just seems like such a stretch, but hey . . . what the hell do I know? I just report what I hear! The last year or so, I’ve had some great experiences re-discovering, or self-discovering music that was originally released in the 70’s and early 80’s, and I’m finding that a lot of modern musicians are also going back to this era of music for inspiration. Year of the Goat, Hypnos 69, Been Obscene, Stone Axe, Opeth, Colour Haze . . . all are but a few of the bands that come to mind that look to the past for guidance towards the future.

So, I was going through my iPod and purging all of the stuff that I never listened to or I felt had no reason to be cluttering up my precious bits and bytes, and stumbled on a band called Svarti Loghin. I must have received this album as a digital download and it got lost in the pile of other digital submissions (always a major problem with digital submissions . . . out of sight, out of mind). I simply don’t remember ever seeing it come through, but I must have listened to enough of it to decide that I would download it for the future. Well, folks . . . the future is becoming the present and I’m getting to this outstanding album from Svarti Loghin entitled Drifting Through The Void. Part black metal, part shoegazer, a touch of 90’s Seattle rock, and heavily influenced by some of the 70’s sounds, especially in the way of textures, tones, and general coolness. The interesting aspect about this album is that the band is captured embracing the organic and natural ethos of today’s atmospheric black metal in the way of composition, production, and darkened menace. And yet, there’s still something that these guys are doing that I can’t put my finger on . . . and that makes me want to listen to Drifting Through The Void even more . . . just so I can try to figure out what the hell is going on here!

“Red Sun Sets” opens the album with a nice, eerie atmospheric instrumental piece, filled with pianos and softly strummed strings over the soft and subtle sounds of either a mellow wind blowing across a plain or of water washing across a shore of rock. No matter, it’s an intro that will make you feel like you’re in nature, preparing to get pummeled by the screeching vocals of some face painted dude in a robe. Not quite. While the vocals do eventually assail us with a raw bellow, it’s not exactly that demonic and grating sound that I’ve become accustomed to with the black metal genre that I so expected this album to fall under. Surprisingly, “Kosmik Tomhet” has more of a post-grunge, alternative rock vibe than anything black metal . . . so things are looking up in several ways. The first minute plus of the song is some heavily textured guitar rock, big and dense sustained chords with clear arpeggios being plucked over the rhythm, and then the wall of distortion disappears, almost like the morning fog lifting and the rays of the sun creeping through the air. Then the heavy guitars and bass return, performing a rather uplifting melody . . . and then we’re greeted by the vocals that couldn’t be further from black metal. These vocals have a nice mellow timbre to them and they croon out this haunting melody before doing a complete one-eighty and we’re assailed by the demonic and tortured howls that are more reminiscent of the black metal genre. The music is still creeping along at this shoegazer pace, but the bass drums are thundering away at double time and the vocals are raging in apocalyptic torment. This little epic piece of music runs just under eight minutes long, and it’s so easy to get lost in the texture and atmospherics of the tune. Man . . . what an amazing contrast of styles!

The same ideas run through the next track, “Odelagd Framtid”, ranging from shoegazer/ alt-rock in musical texture and sheering the face off with the deathly howls of black metal, and it’s completely mesmerizing! It’s the title track that seemed to strike me as the most intoxicating, however. Vocally, and maybe a little musically, the melody reminds me of Temple of the Dog. It’s an immediately memorable tune in that I can see myself tooling around the office and humming this one. Shadows of Eddie Vedder linger around the vocal performance, that is, until the middle portion when the tune takes a decidedly dark turn through the woods. The vocals return to the haunted howls of a soul striving to be free of its torment and the music is laced with tendrils of creepiness that one might find in the darkest moments of Katatonia’s greatest hits. And then, it all breaks down to the purest organic elements of an acoustic guitar, bending notes in a very Southern swampy blues style akin to Stephen Stills plowing his way through the riffs of “Black Queen”. Throw in a little harmonica and this portion of the song fits well on any dilapidated porch in Louisiana. I love the vision behind this song . . . it could have gone straight down some dark highway, but Svarti Loghin decided to take a side road and found some incredible moments along the journey.

The band outdo themselves with the nine minute majesty of “Bury My Heart In These Starlit Waters”. Hypnotic as the gentle ebbs and flows of the ocean under a full moon, the music rolls across the horizon of the mind, reflecting hopes, dreams, sadness, and fear. Even when the demonic vocals from the oceanic deep bubble to the surface, I don’t feel the terror that I thought I would or should, it all feels so natural and perfectly fitting. In my mind, this song could easily have been the soundscape behind the Kon-Tiki voyage of 1947 . . . sitting on a raft in the middle of the Pacific ocean, letting the current take the craft wherever the current wanted to go . . . some may want to pop some Dramamine prior to listening to this one.

Drifting Through The Void was a something that I unfortunately missed from 2010 or even 2009. I say unfortunately simply because I would have loved to include this in my year end Top 10 list. But alas, I’ll simply have to spout off about how brilliant it is here and now. It’s an album full of some fantastic cosmic adventures in sound, heavily textured and immensely haunting. It may not appeal to all rock fans because of the heavily intense vocal work, but then again, it may open some to those darker elements of black metal that they were afraid to investigate prior. I love this one. The exclamation point came with Svarti Loghin’s interpretation of Sabbath’s “Planet Caravan”. I heard the opening notes and felt like I was being propelled through space in some cryogenic sleep  . . . half conscious, watching the stars float past my glass enshrouded capsule. Amazing album . . . check out the darkness, folks!

--Pope

Buy here: Drifting Through the Void
Buy here mp3: Drifting Through the Void

http://www.myspace.com/svartiloghin

Syn - Matter of Time

What were you listening to in 1993? I know I was listening to whatever was floating around the airwaves of California’s Inland Empire. Tangent: The Inland Empire is no empire unless you’re a meth addict or have an unhealthy appetite for porn. Anyway, odds are I was listening to something from Alice In Chains, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Live, Faith No More . . . basically any of the alt rock, grunge, or bizarre metal of the day. I certainly wasn’t listening to Syn’s album, Matter of Time . . . and that’s really a damn shame. This album is shockingly good by all accounts. It has strong songwriting, excellent musicianship, songs that have a perfect balance between ballsy rocker to sweet and sentimental ballad, but the album never gets sappy; catchy tunes that become instantly recognizable, and I have my brother-in-arms, Racer, to thank for turning me on to this gem.

It was one of those fabled Rasputin’s bargain bin dives some years back where we were driven slowly insane by the repetitious clickity-clack of plastic CD cases, cold concrete floors driving joint ache deeper into our bones, and the open hostility of shop keep’s and fellow shoppers due to our senseless banter and idiotic behavior. Hey Racer . . . remember, you double dog dared me to break dance in the aisle! Anyway, at some point in the six hour marathon, he handed me this disc from Syn and told me it was good, give it a listen, try it . . . you’ll like it. So, I did. And, I did and still do. Obviously. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be tippity-tapping on my keyboard to tell you about it. The music on this gem is rock, but it hits the listener from a number of different directions. One minute a little Kentucky fried, a little swampy, but not really full on southern rock, then Syn dips their big toe in the murky waters of grunge/post-grunge, before throwing in huge elements of good ole modern rock vibes.

The first two tracks on this disc are impeccable rock songs, full of hooks, catchy melodies, nuance, rich vocals, and high quality musicianship. “Love On My Side” is simply beautiful and a great way to catch the listeners attention, powered primarily by some slick, though somewhat raw production work, and vocals that have aged for anywhere from seven to ten years in an oak keg somewhere in the back hills of Kentucky. The constant hum of the Hammond organ provides the song with that southern feel, but the song doesn’t come across the same as a Skynyrd or Allman Bros. tune . . . maybe it’s the modern recording of the track that makes it sound more vibrant, I don’t know the reasons, but it’s a solid track. “Love On My Side” initially reminds me of The Wallflowers first album, but that quickly vanishes once the vocals push their way to the front of the mix. The song just has an earthy, organic vibe to the whole thing; it lacks all pretention and just evokes emotion on so many levels.

“Bleed” follows up the lead track in perfect fashion, a heavier dose of straight up rock led by some serious wah’ed out guitars. This track has a bit of that early 90’s Pearl Jam driving rock feel, but the vocals sound like a mixture of the late Michael Hutchins (INXS), especially as he croons his way through the verses, and the quasi-banshee wail of Chris Cornell. The guitar solo is something straight out off of Ten, which isn’t a bad thing, full of dynamic wah pounding action; tapping a bit of that Hendrix vein as the notes bend to unnatural notes. In 1993, this song could easily have been in rotation with any of the “grunge” bands, especially Pearl Jam, as it has that classic rock meets modern aggression thing going on . . . crisp production mixed with the classic rock n’ roll swagger.

“Hey John” is a nice sentimental ode to John Lennon. The song is packed with Beatles references and these guys do a good job of making it an interesting song when it very easily could have come across as sappy and full of gimmick. The vocals on this track come out sounding like a bizarre mixture of Dave Matthews and Adam Duritz of Counting Crows, but they’re effective in conveying the emotion of war and peace and the apathy of society towards the violent world we all live in. Gotta’ say, I love the bass tones and sound the production team got out of the drums! Both instruments sound huge without overwhelming the song, without burying the message of the song or crushing the guitars as they strum out their melodies. Pretty frickin’ cool song!

Matter of Time closes as strongly as the disc opens. “Take It Back” is another ballsy rocker littered with some damned fine guitar work, heavy textural stuff, volume swells, huge waves of chorus and delay . . . simply put, great elements that add flavor to the music. Note the low end work as the bassist strays out of the pocket just enough to keep the listener guessing, adding flourishes of interest as the guitars create ambient sheets of sound. The vocals, as they’ve been throughout the album, are a solid, powerful entity. It kinda’ has that Live sound, especially in the guitars, but also in the way Syn composed the song, grandiose and epic while remaining confined in a five minute piece of music. Album closer, “Matter of Time,” is a piece taken straight from the mind of Page/Plant. The arpeggios plucked from the acoustic six string combined with the vocals give the listener the sense that something big is happening, something epic, and sure enough . . . when the band goes electric and the chorus hits it’s crescendo, it’s like all of those great Zeppelin moments revisited. This song also has me hearing a bit of Doyle Bramhall II, in particular, the Welcome album.

I can’t find a damn thing on Syn other than a few references that they did exist at one time or another, and that they released Matter of Time. Other than that, they seem to be another band that’s been lost to history, another carcass left to rot on the side of the rock n’ roll highway. It’s really too bad too coz’ if this album is any indication of potential future music, then we could have had a nice collection of honest, high quality rock that would have made the 90’s feel like less of a wasteland. Though they constantly remind me of other artists, they never sound so much like anyone else that it sounds like they’re lifting anybody’s schtick. There’s a good combination and balance of old and new sounds mixed within these songs and the album is worth every cent that you spend on it, especially since most of the copies that you find will be in the bargain bins. Matter of Time rocks, it soothes, it’s soulful and high energy and ultimately, a gem of music that was grossly overlooked when other, much less adequate, music engrained itself in our social conscious.  -  Pope JTE

Buy here: Matter Of Time