Sovereign Nocturnal

For a band to feature just three very long songs on its debut album is ambitious: it's as if we're meant to treat this recording like a long EP - and "Sovereign Nocturnal" is just a tiny bit longer than some EPs - while the musicians are busy working on something that'll really be "full album strength" (we hope). Velnias play a doomy melodic black metal with folk influences. Song titles like "Into Arms of Oak" and "Risen of the Moon" certainly suggest an interest in folk-oriented themes and certainly there are passages of quiet strumming acoustic guitar sounding almost like a mandolin on all three tracks.

"Into Arms of Oak" is a stirring introduction with majestic doomy BM mixed with introverted acoustic guitar movements. The mood is pretty sombre but the song's minimal treatment - just guitars, drums vocals and a clear clean ambience, nothing more, nothing less - ensures that the atmosphere doesn't get too melancholy. "Risen of the Moon" tips the balance between doom and BM more onto the BM side with tremolo guitar riffing and deeper, almost death metal vocals: this makes for a more aggressive (but not too much so) song. We still have periods of quiet contemplative music which to some listeners could be a bit distracting as there's always the risk that momentum and tension built up in the faster aggressive sections get lost so when the acoustic bits stop, the musicians would have to start building up the momentum again - but it turns out Velnias maintain the tension by keeping such quiet sections fairly short and ending them by expanding the fast parts powerfully if quickly. Again the stark guitars-n-drums approach with no fancy special atmospheric FX gives the song an inward mood which at the same time suggests an inner power. In the second half of the song the instrumental parts have a slightly menacing air.

The title track has a power metal feel and is very aggressive. As with the previous songs you get quiet insular moments that then erupt into poweful and majestic waves of melodic guitar work and thumping percussion. The mood changes a lot but the volatility doesn't seem all that manipulative: the melancholy which shades into hope comes across as genuine enough. The musicians use very quiet pieces of acoustic strings to bring the song's tension to a head which is released and channelled in extended passages of instrumental music which never quite work up into an all-out purging emotional climax. Instead we have the album's only extended passage of ambient soundscape (basically rain and stormy weather).

This album is technically good and well put together: there is some variation in the band's style with each song (more doom in the first song, more BM in the second song and the title track having a more melodic power metal feel) though I can't say Velnias are very adventurous or inventive. The mood can be dark and a bit depressed but the emotion is restrained and concentrated into long instrumental passages that build up towards rather muted climaxes. The stripped-down controlled approach hints at a hidden sinister power behind the music though the melodies and riffs sometimes suggest an inkling of hope or a resolution in the atmosphere of sadness and desolation.

I have the feeling Velnias haven't quite given everything they've got on this album but that's only my opinion and that's due to the restrained minimal approach the guys have used which throws the emphasis on their technical ability and the melodic nature of the music.