Made in metal
*The original text is written in spanish, this has been googled translated.
We are proud to discuss for you the debut EP of the Swedish quartet Svarta Sanningar, where our friend Klas Bohlin, known for being the Swedish Gothic vocalist Beseech, also plays the role of drummer Håkan Carlsson. The other two components are bassist Mattias Lejon and skilful guitarist Jonas Persson.
Formed very recently in the city of Borås in the province of Västergötland, in western Sweden. As they say themselves, Svarta Sanningar (which means something like Dark Truths), is formed by a group of day-to-day entrepreneurs, misunderstood scientists and occultists. That to express their mission, they have chosen rock (yes, you read well …) where they preach the truth about the forces of darkness.
They have created a fascinating story in this EP “Kapitel 1”, composed of four pieces, the work can be described as a script for an Italian horror film based on a theory of fictitious conspiracy with a series of events discovered on September 29, 1976 A story of screams, horror and evil stalked by ritual murders and spies. Many years later, on November 30, 2018 awaits the decline of the earth. Finally, it is time to distance ourselves from the forgiveness of religions and see death as a new way of life.
According to they talk about theories of conspiracy, occultism and death as a central theme, but there are some ingredients, such as zombies, demons, ghosts and goblins, gathered in 4 elegant tracks that evoke darkness and a certain Gothic halo of undeniable Scandinavian origin. With lyrics sung in Swedish, which give a much more exotic touch to these compositions. I confess that they have me trapped.
The first piece is titled “Pentagrammet”, calm rhythm and grayish tones that cover everything, beautiful and sad melodies, while Klas almost whispers the lyrics, beautiful guitars for a very careful cut. The second one is called “Demonen” has a very similar tempo, almost traced, but has a refrain that can not be sung, but I have it stuck in my brain, there is like an organ or keyboard in the background that all the track of a sense much more occult and dark, subtle but effective. I love everything the guitarist does, which makes Klas drawing vocal melodies. But beware, the rhythm section also nails it.
In “Experimentet” that lasts more than 5 minutes, they delve into the darkness, through beautiful melodies and that mysterious halo, which could perfectly be part of a soundtrack. Here the keyboards reappear and Jonas marks an elegant and sober guitar solo. The ending comes with “Nekromantik”, the most extensive song of the EP, with almost 7 minutes of length where the guitar Jonas returns to surprise me with beautiful little details, splashing a composition for nothing tedious, despite the rhythm and duration. Drummer Håkan Carlsson pummels the drum with insistence on the last minute of the song. I confess that with a couple of listeners I got used to Swedish. I’m not sure, but maybe it’s the first band that sings in Swedish that I’ve reviewed, at least in this style. Style that I would not know how to define or label.
It’s cool what they do, I do not know if the intention is to make several EPs as chapters or a complete album. I have been left wanting more and many questions. So we will try to interview the vocalist Klas Bohlin, to tell us more about this new project in which he has gotten together with his countrymen. ‘Kapitel 1’ possesses the right dose of darkness and without being anything groundbreaking achieves its task with subtlety and good taste.