Splendidula – Somnus
Release Date: 29th January 2021
Label: Argonauta Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Doom, Sludge, Heavy Metal.
FFO: Sleep, Electric Wizard, Black Sabbath.
Review By: David Oberlin
Splendidula, apart from sounding like a vampire with a sweet tooth, reawaken with their third album Somnus. And, it is a meaty release with a crispy sound. The Jerky of Doom – what with it containing forthy-three minutes of riffs to chew on. Spanning six tracks Somnus is spooky doom metal infused with a progressive edge.
The foundation of this album is doom – doom metal. As any nihilistic tendencies are thrown out the window with the surprisingly energetic vocals courtesy of part time banshee Kristien Cools whose duties are co-opted by the guttural styling, in contrast, of vox part-timer Pieter Houben. Cools does a great job filling the higher registers with a softer and more alluring timbre for the most part. And, with great feeling and a believable delivery.
The feeling here is in definite contrast to the drone wall of riffs that the rhythm guitar provides. Yet, this is just a trait common to sludge slash doom music. The lead guitar is often left to supply some phrasing so as to characterise a song. However, this album is at its best when all guitars are complimenting a holistic melody. When they are too busy being amalgamated into the distorted shroud of evil there can be a bit of disconnect. Where the ideas clip into the modular noise.
When Somnus is quiet and thoughtful it really shines. Alas, the wall of noise makes the status quo here yet there are flirtations with gothic and dungeon styled tendencies that are deserved of a pert ear. In fact the group even delve into some industrial programming which really gives this gloom music a unique sound in a genre defined by Sleep. There are a lot of good ideas here but executed as dreams are to logic. And, what dreams are to logic Somnus is to composition.
Sadly the percussion department is pale and the hits clip into the wall of noise like a fart in a gloop factory. While functioning more like a metronome than a feature. But! [no pun intended] listening to a metal album for intricate drum patterns is like listening to jazz for dungeon synth vamps. At the end of the day they do their job and drag the rhythms into line, just not with any ground pounding quake of excitement.
When Somnus dares to shirk its reliance on heavy noise it can come across as neat and inventive. However, these ideas are often nothing more than novelty as the tracks depend on an attachment to doom to proceed.
(3 / 5)
