Svarti Loghin “Empty World” CD

"Empty World" is the impressive debut full-length from curious Swedish black metal trio Svarti Loghin—as well as the first release for new label A Sad Sadness Song (partnered with ATMF)—and this is one of those rare albums where you can just tell from the aesthetic of the cover art that there's more than likely something special to be found within. The mere six tracks (most of which top eight minutes) make for nearly 45 minutes of cold, winding, atmospheric black metal that's familiar but still quite intriguing in its use of almost shockingly emphatic melodies and atypical riffing tendencies (as far as black metal is concerned). Sure, the lightly reverberating screams are as tortured as one would anticipate, and many of the midpaced rhythms surge forth with a consistently pounding pace (to some degree reminiscent of Katatonia's early years), while a number of the eerily creeping riffs weave amidst melodic tendencies commonly heard from some of Norway's finest, but there's much more to it than that. In fact, I'd argue that some of the melodies are so fluid and forthright that they have an almost emo/indie rock quality to them—coming across through a distorted howl that bears an incredibly unusual similarity to some of the harder to categorize bands from the more openly melodic niche of the 90's metallic hardcore scene, like Split Lip and Empathy, among others. I know it's sort of stupid to bring up bands like that in a write-up about a black metal act, as few will have any idea what the hell I'm rambling about, but... the similarities are just too uncanny to ignore in some instances. It's these almost "upbeat" melodies that really shift the overall character of the album in a more creative direction—strange, but highly effective. Hell, the clean guitars during the intro to the title track sound almost identical to something Dan Swanö would've done with his progressive rock outfit Unicorn, and at one point I'd swear they lift the core melody from The Beatles' "Here Comes the Sun" for a few moments!? In words these tidbits are almost certainly creating an inaccurate picture of this album, however. Many listeners probably won't notice some of these characteristics buried amongst the darker and more traditional aspects of the compositions, but I feel that there's plenty to appreciate regardless, and I'll look forward to hearing more from Svarti Loghin in the future...

Svarti Loghin "Inner Desolation"

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ATMF
The End Records