Black Metal bands don't need to consist of at least three or four people, in order to create fantastic music.  Some bands like MYSTIC CIRCLE work as a duo with only two people, while others are single man acts.  Even IMMORTAL has recently become a single-man act, with Demonaz Doom Occulta considered the only member left standing.  However, you've most likely never heard of SARVEKAS, a Black Metal duo from Salo, Finland.  No one knows the members' real names, as they only go by A.A. and J.L.  SARVEKAS have only been around since 2019, so they haven't released much material.  In fact, they only have released an EP called "Of Atavistic Fury & Visions" and-quite recently-a full-length studio album titled "Woven Dark Paths."  Released on May 26th, 2023, through the Dutch record label Soulseller Records, "Woven Dark Paths" has the legendary Scandinavian Black Metal sound that has grown quite popular in the underground scene.  With 8 tracks consisting of themes ranging from paganism and sorcery to winter-all laden with shredding, distorted guitar riffs and frequent blast beats-this is an album that Black Metal fans must hearken to.

The opening track "Rite of Transcendence" aka the shortest track does not contain any lyrics or Heavy Metal-styled instrumentation.  It's mainly a two-minute-long synthesized piece of violin playing mixed in with haunting moans.  It's an unexpected way to start off an album but not uncommon altogether.  The next track is titled "The Scryer of Bones," and it plainly starts off with a resounding blast beat from J.L.  The tremolo picking of A.A.'s guitar alongside his shrieking vocals are next-level and add to the blasphemous/supernatural atmosphere of the first half of "Woven Dark Paths."  The last minute of the song includes rhythmic beating on J.L.'s tom drums that adds to the haunting vibe.  "Of Bloodlust & Nightside Sorceries" and "Embers of Pagan Fire" are similar to "The Scryer of Bones" with its instrumentals-albeit with some variations-and the themes of heathenry, sorcery, and the supernatural.  In my opinion, the three songs all sound a little too similar to each other, but the lovely blast beats and thrash-like guitar riffs are still nothing short of praiseworthy.  After the fifth/title track of the record, it takes us from a world of blasphemous sorcery to a colder one with "The Austerity of the Northern Lands."  This sixth track opens up with A. A's electric guitar strumming, which slowly builds up in volume and is followed by a fluid rhythm of J.L.'s snare drum, tom drum, and cymbal smashing.  Then, with a very Black Metal scream from A.A., away we go into a bitter Scandinavian winter.  After about four and a half minutes of frostbitten Black Metal, the song comes to a close with the same drumming rhythm that J.L. used to begin the track.  The final track "The Great Winter" is the longest song of "Woven Dark Paths" and sounds very similar to the Norwegian Black Metal legends themselves IMMORTAL.  In fact, the song reminded me very much of IMMORTAL's slower songs from their most recent album "War Against All," which I appreciated very much.  Although "The Great Winter" is 7 minutes long, it does eventually come to an end with an acoustic guitar-very surprising indeed-and so does the winter and SARVEKAS's debut album.

All in all, SARVEKAS's debut album "Woven Dark Paths" was very well-made.  So far, my only complaint is that for the first half of the record, the instrumentals did not have enough variation.  The guitars and drums, alongside the muted bass, were too similar in sound.  However, the themes of paganism, supernatural realms, and winter pays proper homage to the roots of Scandinavian Black Metal.  I can honestly and genuinely say that this relatively new band is going places with this first album of theirs.  As for you beautiful fans of Scandinavian Black Metal, if you want a new band or album playing the Extreme Metal subgenre you love so much, I present to you "Woven Dark Paths" by SARVEKAS.