CoC : Svarti Loghin - Bleak World : Review

Svarti Loghin - _Bleak World_
(ATMF, 2009)
by: Quentin Kalis (7.5 out of 10)

It may be "untrve" and certainly not "kvlt", but the depressive-suicidal-melancholic black metal variant is a definite trend, even if the moody Swedes would be among the last to admit to following any sort of fad. The serotonin-depleted trio Svarti Loghin follows the usual template of brooding, measured riffs, never rising above mid-tempo, occasionally interrupted by Shining-esque acoustic intermezzos and sticking to a shoutier version of the near obligatory post-Burzum shrieks. All wrapped in a production rawer than the norm that does not descend into Xasthurian murkiness, a so-so ambient closer the only departure from this motif. None of this would matter if they could not evoke a sense of unrelenting despair, simmering just below the melancholic veneer, and it is this atmosphere that is the album's undisputed strong point. Better than most of their peers, but nowhere near the best, and certainly not the last. Nonetheless, it does make for a diversionary listen and sufficient evidence for holding off on the Prozac.

Contact: http://www.myspace.com/svartiloghin

(article published 16/8/2009)