KVAEN is a Black/Folk/Pagan/MeloDeath mashup band, formed in Sweden in 2019. All of the music was composed by one person. Perhaps the most interesting thing about this project is that it caught the attention of Metal Blade Records, one of the “big four” labels in Metal if you will. Their latest album here has eight songs, and the title track is first. It is definitely dark, and aggressive, without clean vocals. The Death vocals cut through the sound like a bolt of lightning through a thunderstorm, and the riffs are deadly as well. “Traverse the Nether” has a swing to it, and it’s almost jovial in that regard, but the contentious riffs erase any notion that this song comes in peace.

“Tornets Sang” has a mid-tempo pace, and so far, through three songs, the band doesn’t present much variation in their sound. To me it’s akin to taking the safe path, but that path is also walked by others. “The Ancient Gods” is another slow, grinding song, and at this point, the album is starting to dull a bit due to a lack of energy. But in comes “Basilisk” to fill that void. It is a charged and angry song, with an aggressive riff, vocals, and blast beat drumming. “De Dodas Sang” begins with clean and eventually crunchy riffs that have a distinct rhythm to them. That’s the sound I was waiting for…the melody in the chorus. It completes the Melodic Death Metal sound.

“The Perpetual Darkness” is indeed a dark song, along with a bit of hopelessness tossed in. Read the title again, and that is reflected in the song…imagine how much perpetual darkness would mess with you. “The Wings of Death” closes the album, and unfortunately, it’s another lackluster effort. Sometimes, being signed to a major record label isn’t necessarily and indicator of talent. In this case however, the band does have talent, they just took the paved road of familiarity instead of forging their own path. It wasn’t a bad album by any stretch of your imagination, it was just too safe.