( Doom – Sludge – Post Metal )
Svntarer have released a titanic slab of doom and sludge that's chest high and will slowly engulf you and bring you on a harrowing journey through those nightmares you hoped you'd never recollect again.
Here’s another debut album getting The Smashing Skull treatment! Svntarer have released a beast in the shape of The Ardent Weight Of Thoughts. It’s bleak and hostile and unearths the darkness that can be found buried within us all. Marko Kolac has somehow managed to gain access to it, and cocoon it all in deep melody and euphony. This album does not sound like a debut album. It sounds huge, and it does bite. Let’s get straight into it!
Dolunge is a menacing and uncomfortable horror themed intro that lures you into its lair, even though every sense of your being is telling you not to enter. Once you’re in the gateway slams shut behind you and you’re in the throes of Svntarer’s world, a catacomb of chaos and disarray. What follows, is churning riffs and wails of anguish from the track Erode, that rebound off the rugged stone walls, and echoe through every chamber and tomb. The weight of their sound is gargantuan as those sludgy riffs and pummelling bass chords are prised wide open. There’s a break in the madness midway through the track, a moment of recomposing oneself before burrowing deeper down into the darkness. The vocals of Marko are harrowing and give life no hope, such is his guttural presence. It’s hugely impressive, but holy shit, does it terrorise.
Misere on the other hand, shows another side to Svntarer, showcasing the talent and dynamics of the band. It shows how they can strip the whole thing back and in mellow ambient fashion, along the lines of This Will Destroy You, with the music patient and passionate, all the time being led by the beautifully plucked bass of Sebastian Adlgasser. That is until a penetrating bellow shatters the calm and is accompanied by haunting tremolo guitars, weeping under aching melodies. It's despairing and arousing at the same time, depending on how deep your love for music heavy-hearted goes. The lyrics "Bury me In the yard, where you lay, Silent body I simply got paranoid" echo and reflect the music perfectly.
Ungetot is almost like another calmly played interlude that’s placid and easy-going but never reassuring! Post black shredding opens Skelta with seldom seen celestial tremolo playing, that lifts spirits and delivers respite. But in stark contrast to this glimmer of hope, chunky bass chords and sunless drums work together, pounding forth a doom sodden march with blistering vocals, that are both lambasting and scourging. Vicious blast beats courtesy of Sebastian Hübner, along with a fury of riffs terrorise right to the end of the track, leaving you stunned and in shock. In four minutes, you've gone from a soul at peace to a soul tormented.
This journey through your worst nightmares and the battle of one’s mental state never recedes on The Ardent Weight of Thoughts, but instead continues to get deeper under your already shredded skin and delivers further tongue lashings and shoulder shakes, with the tracks Lazar and Vacanz. Relentless, doom inspired chords continue to trample and beat you down. It's harrowing to some, but the sinister side of you will love every single second of it. If you can embrace and learn to love your dark side as much as the false façade everyone else sees, then Svntarer are for you.
Demerunge is the sounds you hear when you open your eyes and find yourself in tatters on the misty sludgy soil. It's that music you wake up to after being trampled and trodden on through a crazy nightmare. The syths blow over you in a light dusting of dew and morning rain. The guitars are calming and near comforting, signalling the end of the nightmare, and letting you know that you have survived those dreaded hours.
This album is huge, simple as that. It's dark and it's disturbing at times, but that's where its beauty lies. Turn on the local radio station if you want some background music to life's mundane tasks, but if you want to test yourself and push your boundaries, then lie back, put on your headphones on, and get lost in the labyrinth that is The Ardent Weight of Thoughts. With a release date of February 14th, Svntarer have delivered the best Valentine's gift you will have ever received! Enjoy.