[schema type=”review” name=”Draconian – Sovran” description=”Label: Napalm Records” author=”Basak Günel” pubdate=”2015-10-30″ ]
Draconian is a doom/gothic metal band from Sweden. Founded in 1994, the band has been going strong despite many ups and downs. The sixth studio album “Sovran” is out at the end of this month and it is also the first album featuring the new vocalist Heike Langhans, who joined the band in 2012 after the former vocalist Lisa Johansson decided to part ways.
“Sovran” offers everything that a doom metal record has to have; that heart-crushing melancholy, doom-y but harsh riffs and that dark atmosphere.. No wonder why I fell in love with this record from the first moment! It almost feels like as if you can see the darkness approaching and approaching with each song. However, what makes this record stand out is the spirituality within the atmosphere. Although the album has this straightforward approach with the harsh vocals and the riffs, I also felt that the album’s sound is deeply connected to the universe/nature somehow. But these are only the feelings I got from the album; each listener might feel differently as each song will touch people in different ways.
The highlight of the album is definitely that perfect harmony between both female and male vocals; Heike’s vocals symbolize that melancholy and Anders’ harsh vocals define that dark and cruel atmosphere of the record. So it’s great to see that Heike fit into the band really well with this record. Another surprise of the album is the song “Rivers Between Us” featuring Daniel Änghede (Black Crippled Phoenix) and it’s definitely one of the highlights as well. I especially liked the clean vocals sung by him in the song as it adds another diversity to the album’s sound.
There’s a lot that can be said about “Sovran” but it’s for the listener to discover this melancholic and beautiful record… It’s definitely recommended for doom/gothic/dark metal fans!
Line Up:
Anders Jacobsson – vocals
Johan Ericsson – guitar
Daniel Arvidsson – guitar
Jerry Torstensson – drums
Fredrik Johansson – bass
Heike Langhans – vocals
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01. Heavy Lies The Crown 02. The Wretched Tide 03. Pale Tortured Blue 04. Stellar Tombs 05. No Lonelier Star 06. Dusk Mariner 07. Dishearten 08. Rivers Between Us 09. The Marriage of Attaris |