Recently there have been a number of doom/doom-inspired bands with occult-themed lyrics (e.g Jex Thoth and Blood Ceremony). SOURVEIN puts a unique spin on the theme with occult lyrics with oceanic themes mixed in. They also take inspiration from Cape Fear (one of the band's locations) on the track "Cape Fearian". The album begins and ends with the sound of the waves, making clear the source of the lyrical inspiration. T-Roy does growled vocals and clean vocals well, mixing two different styles of the former. His clean vocals have a tone that suits the underwater themes, and even have a "bubbling" effect put on them at one point. At times I did feel that the growled vocals were a bit far back in the mix, though. Surprisingly, the spoken-word part on "Cape Fearian" doesn't come off as cheesy; the croakiness of the spoken parts reminds me of AHAB circa "Call of the Wretched Sea". The partly-spoken words on "Ocypuss" add to the sinister atmosphere of the song.

King James brings a bunch of memorable riffs to the album (and he seems to make enough noise to make up for the lack of a bassist). A downfall of some doom metal songs is that the repeated riff is not engaging enough to prevent monotony from setting in. This is not the case for SOURVEIN. The repeating riffs on "Aquanaut", "Hymn to Poseidon" and "In the Wind", for example, manage to remain engaging throughout. Speaking of remaining engaging, I baulked at first when I saw that the album had 14 tracks. Luckily none of them outstayed their welcome, and I felt that all the tracks were necessary in creating the story of "Aquatic Occult". Initially I pegged "Coral Bones" as a better closer than "Oceanic Procession". The slow pace, sludgy riffs and melancholic mood of the latter lend it a finality that ultimately convinced me to let go of my initial quibble. King James lays down some great solos throughout, with those on "In the Wind" and "High Tide" being two examples. The heaviness of the album is broken up by shorter interludes, including the delightfully creepy, acoustic-tinged "Cape Fearian" and the short-but-sweet "Mermaids" (its main riff has been stuck in my head for a few days as I write this review). The shorter songs don't take away from the flow of the album at all.

Suitably heavy drumming adds to good doom, in my opinion. Ramzi Ateyeh does a good job of this throughout the album. The simple bass drum beat of "Mermaids" adds to its 'catchiness'; simplicity is good when done well. I found myself nodding my head to the heavy intro of "Urchins". The pace of the songs varies here and there – "Capsized" is a faster number than others, in contrast to the funeral doom pace of "High Tide". The alternations between lighter and heavier tracks, and faster and slower tracks, adds interest to the album. After enjoying this album, I wish that I'd heard of SOURVEIN earlier, especially since they've been around almost as long as I've been alive (they formed in 1993). This album is interesting enough to warrant repeated listens. When it comes to 2016 doom metal albums, "Aquatic Occult" is one of the good ones I've heard so far.

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