Svarti Loghin – Sea of Green (2011)

Blowing past the boundaries of Depressive Black Metal and ending up on the Alternative Rock side of things, today we have Svarti Loghin and their latest skillful release “Sea of Green”. The band since their last release “Drifting Through the Void” was showing extreme signs of moving away from BM, and on this latest release they complete the transition.

Evoking elements from Alternative Rock to Grunge, “Sea of Green” features five very interesting tracks that need your complete open-mindedness or you will completely hate this release. The depressive vibe of the band is totally present in this release; this is excellent since the band has a very unique sound. However, you will have to deal with almost no Metal elements, and a very mellow and ‘alternative’ approach to things.

The instrumental “Cloud Man” nicely sets the tone for this melancholic release. In this song Svarti Loghin continues the vibe presented in the band’s latest releases. The biggest surprise comes on “Sea of Green”, another track the keeps the mellow and slow-paced approach but sounds like a song from Alice in Chains or something like that. While many people will keep on waiting for the ‘Metal’ edge of the band to return and the harsh vocals, we will save you time and tell you that they never come back.

Don’t get us wrong and believe that this album is bad, it is far from it. The band manages to deliver five songs of pure depressive music with a very melancholic edge to them. The vocals are excellent and the overall mood of the album is masterfully crafted. Yes, there are no more Metal elements, but this music still serves its purpose and evokes emotions on the listener. The dramatics of tracks like “Transparent” can’t be faked and Svarti Loghin delivers them with surgical precision.

The best song of this release has to be the mutli-faceted “Celestial Bound in Cosmic Infinity”. While this song will give you some Coldplay vibe from its structure, the vocals and guitars are excellent in creating that melancholic and grunge-ish sound that had been missing from music in the last few years. The mellow and somewhat western inspired “Black Moon” closes off this release in a very enigmatic way and will surely leave you wanting some more.

As weird as this release opens, it ends. The band’s music is excellent, but the feeling that something is missing (like the Metal elements) will leave some people puzzled. We can’t understand why we liked this album so much, even though it has so many mainstream music elements. The music is good, the vocals are excellent, and if you like depressive things it will blow you away. Just be warned that this is not your average ‘depressive Metal’ release and that you need to be a bit more open minded to fully understand the power of “Sea of Green”.

Release: November, 2011

Country: Sweden