Sabbathian, The: Latum Alterum

The Sabbathian is a collaboration between Chad Davis (Hour of 13) and Anette Uvaas Gulbrandsen (Nàttsòl). In 2014, they released Ritual Rites, an EP that garnered lots of positive attention for it’s riffy and brooding take on classic doom. Fans quickly wanted more music from the band, especially if it would deliver more doom. For their debut album, the elements that made the EP so exciting are still there, but things are even darker and more brooding. The guitars are fuzzy and dark in ways that give the music a hazy quality. Gulbrandsen’s vocals are similarly more ethereal. In that light, it makes sense that this album is broadly about traveling to the other side and discovering the mysteries of death. The opening and closing tracks serve as blessings to the souls of the departed and the songs in between offer various broad perspectives on death in general.

On the whole, this album is darker than the band’s original EP even if the sound steps a little bit away from the building blocks of classic doom and buts up against elements of black metal and folk metal. For the most part, the shift works fine. The Sabbathian is a terrific band and the music suits the promise we all heard back in 2014. Davis’s guitar playing is dark and moody and Gulbrandsen’s vocals are thick and haunting. I love doom metal in all its forms and I certainly count The Sabbathian as a solid doom band. If there’s one weakness to this album, it is that the music sticks with what it’s doing a little too much. Because of that, some listeners may grow weary of the general style sooner than they expect. If you’re curious about the album, check out a few tracks, perhaps “The Brightest Light� and “One Night of Cruelty� and “Embrace the Dark,� and take it from there.

Track Listing:
1. Requiem… (Intro)
2. The Brightest Light
3. Liti Kjersti
4. Head of a Traitor
5. One Night of Cruelty
6. Embrace the Dark
7. Evig Hvile / Libera me… (Outro)

Added: January 21st 2019
Reviewer: Carl Sederholm
Score:
Related Link: Bandcamp Page
Hits: 1064
Language: english

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