Agonie des Lichts

It is rare, especially in Black Metal, to find a band with a complete line up. The Austrian Svartsorg is one of those bands as they consist of five members, two guitars, keyboards, drums and voice. They were formed in 2007 and since then they have released two full length albums. Their most recent second album is called “Agonie des Lichts” which means agony of light and it contains eight compositions of overall duration of about fifty minutes. Musically, Svartsorg are loyal to the old Black Metal sound, combining various influences mainly from the European area.

So, speaking of their influences, the listener will come across classic Scandinavian, fast sound with many parts of melodic and atmospheric Black Metal. The element which characterizes the riffs is their solid and heavy nature both in the slow, atmospheric parts but also in the fast ones. So, the riffs in the fast parts are heavy and brutal while in the slower – mid pace ones are technical, melodic and atmospheric. In some parts they brought to my mind the characteristic heavy Greek sound while some references to their compatriots Abigor were also there. Another special element of the band is the big contribution of the keyboards to the compositions. Their role surely is to create intense and heavy atmosphere but in many parts they become the leading instrument and dominate the composition. The tracks are quite big regarding their duration something that makes the good structure necessary. Svartsorg have tried a lot to offer a good structure so that the tracks to be interesting, with changes in their style, the rhythm and the atmosphere. They haven’t succeeded to achieve that in the entire album as in some parts the compositions either because of some boring riffs, either because of the long duration they become quite tedious.

Concerning the instruments the guitars and the keyboards are those ones that shine out. The guitars are heavy, they have bass sound but clean, they are played with technic and accuracy, while the beautiful and flawlessly played solos cause a particular impression. The keyboards other times are atmospheric, heavy and minimalistic, while other times they play the first role but reminding a lot of Dimmu Borgir of “Enthrone Darkness Triumphant ” era. I couldn’t manage to listen to the bass clearly in any part of the album. The drums have interesting lines, quite technical in the mid paced parts with changes and fast bursts, whereas in the fast ones they are brutal and repetitive. They are played with passion and stability. The vocals are heavy Black Metal vocals, they don’t have much variety in expression and they are somewhat monotonous. The production is bass and clean delivering a thick and dark sound which fits perfectly to the style of the compositions. The mixture is good, highlighting mostly the guitars and the keyboards but without making the tracks lose their massive character. The lyrics are written in English, they are not contained in the cd and they speak of winter, night, Satan.

The second album of Svartsorg surely is a good effort. In many parts they achieve to drag the listener into the dark atmosphere that they create while the tedious parts are a few. On the other hand the important role of the keyboards might annoy as in various parts they overload the composition. I think that the album has a lot of nice parts like some beautiful riffs, nice technic, it can create an intense atmosphere but it also has its tedious parts which ruin the consistency of the listen and they don’t achieve to maintain the listeners interest to the same level. You don’t lose anything to listen to it but for sure you have to listen to it before you buy it.