KVAEN – The Great Below
Release Date: 25th March 2022
Label: Black Lion Records
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Genre: Thrash Metal, Death Metal, Black Metal, Melodic Death Metal.
FFO: Wormwood, Schizophrenia, Dimension Zero.
Review By: Andy Spoon
Semi-solo project KVAEN of Sweden’s most recent release aims to follow up the 2020 debut album The Funeral Pyre, which arose to some excitement in the death/thrash world. Swedish project KVAEN returns in March 2022with a host of guest contributions, including guitarist Jeff Loomis, to add 8 blistering new tracks to the band’s resume of fiery, speedy metal offerings. Mainly composed of the works of founding member and artist Jacob Bjornfot and drummer Tommi Tuhkala, The Great Below mixes death metal, thrash, and some melodic death elements to create a dynamically-diverse, technically-excellent record that is easily their best work so far.
Vocals: Here, the vocal style is in the higher vocal range, which lends to the blackened/pagan sound the band describes as part of their sound. The rhythmic cadence of the lyrics blend between traditional thrash (short lines with heavy rhythmic elements). Unlike blackened music, which so-often sounds like screamed slam poetry over background music. It actually works well in the “thrashy” sense, but the screams are angsty and gritty. However, lack of vocal variation is where the vocal range might suffer some lack of interest from the listener. The employed vocal technique, while effective, remains largely static through the whole record. This is not something that is necessarily a bad thing, but it could keep some listeners from considering The Great Below as vocally diverse, as even the guest vocals on In Silence and The Fire Within Him Burns continue the overall vocal sound.
Drums: The project’s thrash elements are best found in the drum section on The Great Below. Speed is king with the drum section, giving credence to the thrash. There are less blast beats than most death projects, but extremely-fast fills and 2/4 metric beat phrases, making the speed metal/thrash sound come to the front of the listener’s mind. It lends to headbanging like cake makes a fat kid salivate. They are recorded extremely-well, lending to the overall message that the drums are meant to be enjoyed for their substance, rather than atmosphere, something the listener ought to appreciate. As far as dynamics go, the mix between thrash, melodic death, and more-traditional death metal will rely largely on the drum section. KVAEN sometimes feels like they employ several drummers at once, which is a compliment of the highest order. To be able to keep the flow consistent without creating stagnancy across the entirety of the album is something that listeners will absolutely appreciate.
Guitars: Clearer sound for transparent power chords and notes. It isn’t a rhythm iinstrument as so many bands employ. KVAEN employ staccato chords further up the neck with dual layers that feels blackened and dissonant. The primary mood for the entire album comes from the second layer of guitars with the howling leads and harmonies. On some tracks, we can hear delayed cleans to add to the mood (In Silence is a perfect example of how KVAEN uses the guitar to completely control the mood, bouncing between heavy and melodic to fill the dynamic gap where the vocals largely remain the same across the album). Leads in numerous songs give the listener occasional breaks to headbang, something that allows the band tomake longer tracks without boring the listener, and also to showcase their musical prowess by adding to the dynamics of the song, often using the 16 bars of leads to front-load an especially-heavy part of the song, such as a refrain before it wraps, giving a nod to excellent production and flow. Guest solos on The Great Below (Jeff Loomis), Damnation’s Jaw (Mike Wead), and Ensamvarg (Sebastian Ramstedt) fill out the line-upwhere Bjornfot wanted to add some additional voice. The only thing that could cause issues with that is getting the same experience live. However, this is not a review of a live performance, so we cannot take away any real points, as we are really trying to hear the artist’s intent rather than to measure their personal skill in repeating what we hear on the record.
Frankly, this album has almost all the elements necessary to make it an absolute banger of a record. There is very little missing. The recording quality is good. The song dynamics are great. The performance level of the musicians is noticeable enough to impress the listener. There is enough variation in tone and emotion to keep the audience entertained and engaged for the entire LP. The delivery of the guitar and drums is what makes the entire album, something that death/thrash/speed metal fans ought to check out this year.
(4.5 / 5)
