SELVANS is an Atmospheric Folk/Black Metal band from Italy, formed in 2014. Following the release of their debut album "Lupercalia" in 2015, the band is back with their sophomore effort, titled "Faunalia," which translates to "a dark Italian opus." The album contains six tracks.

"Ad Malum Finem" leads off the album; a short instrumental track. Eerie flutes sound like the horns of a steam engine coming your way. Then, there is whistling and some light symphonic elements that soon give way to a completeness of symphony that is both somber and exciting. "Notturno Peregrinar" opens with a classic Italian sound, soon near-drowned out by the raging Black Metal scream. From there, it moves forward with a more traditional sounding riff and continued screams. Some piano mixes in here and there, with a serious tone. "Anna Perenna" opens with some odd keys and a female voice humming notes out loud. There is just something quintessentially Italian about the sound. Big vocals and a riff then hit, with symphony abounding. Some repugnant male vocals occupy the space, subtly warning you, until they come at you full speed, shouting and lamenting in the darkness of the instrumentation.

"Magna Mater Maior Mans" is a near-fifteen minute beast, opening with a traditional Black Metal riff and some vocal chants to go along with the double-timed percussion. Some piano notes come into the madness, offering some stability to the mostly chaotic sound. It drops at the half way point, with just some soft guitar notes and organ. The clean male vocals make for a completely different sound, like the ending to good movie. It culminates into a very moving ending. "Phersu" is a near ten-minute track, opening with a raucous energy with non-stop percussion and high pitched screams. All of the sudden a very harrowing sequence approaches, with tortured screams and sounds that come from the pit of hell itself, before it turns with spacy and trippy keys. The chants come back into play and I would swear they were in the middle of a summoning spell.

"Requiem Aprutii" is the lengthy closing song, clocking in at close to fifteen minutes. The opening of the song is very traditional in scope, but leads quickly to Black Metal chaos. This is an intriguing track, and it has a quality reflective of the album as a whole. That quality is modern elements mixed in with the traditional Black Metal sound. There are definitely times when you feel like you are listening to the original wave of Black Metal...that intense, firey mayhem that fuels your need to release you anger and rage. But, there are also modern moments with guitars and keys where the Doom genre comes into play, and even some Classical elements. It's done with care and seasoning...excellent album!