170 days till W:O:A 2023.
Konvent are an all-female death-doom metal band from Kopenhagen, Denmark. They formed in 2015 and the current line-up consists of vocalist Rikke Emilie List, Heidi Withington Brink on bass, Sara Helena Nørregaard on guitar and Julie Simonsen on drums. Konvent's first studio album Puritan Masochism came out in 2020, the sophomore album Call Down The Sun only two years later in 2022.
I've listened to both albums last week and I like them both. The style on both albums is very similar. They are both slow and heavy death-doom albums which stick to the expected genre conventions. I think the second album appealed a bit more to me as Konvent's death-doom style is a bit more blackened on this one and List's vocals are a bit more diverse, which is probably best heard in Grains, one of my favourite songs on this album. Here you are not only hearing her insane guttural growls, but also some very nice black metal shrieks. The song features lyrics in Danish in parts, which gives it a very nice touch.
Rikke Emilie Lists's voice is one of the most notable features on this album as it really dominates the songs. It is not possible to hear around it. Apart from the interspersed black metal screams her vocal performance is relatively reptetitive, which helps to create the overall atmosphere of doom and gloom. Her guttural growls drag you down into the depths of despair and there is no escaping. After a while I noticed that I actually could understand most of the lyrics, which is not a given I think in the range she is growling. Behind the growls and shrieks you have a very dense and heavy rhtyhm section. Bass is lowered and drum are mostly slow and heavy while the distorted guitar picks a heavy doom metal riff and repeats it all over the song. The repetition of the riffs and the monotone voice creates this atmosphere of hopelessness and despair that is mandatory in doom metal.
Why would I listen to this you ask? I don't know, you definitely have to be in the mood for it. But there are days where listening to this kind of music is really great and immersive. The music is stoic and stomping and slow but still manages to be brutal and epic at the same time.
The last song on the album, Harena, is the most melodic song and it comes with a violin and chello performance by guest musician Felix Havstad that is just beautiful. This last song is again so dark and bleak and yet there is a speck of hope. I really love this song and it ends the album perfectly.
So you have time to think
About days and what is to come
Could there be a link
To now and what you run from?
What if you have a choice
To act and stop being numb?
Eyes down, avoid the fall
'Cause up lies mountains tall
The first four songs on this album are really strong tracks in my opinion. I already mentioned Grains above as it sticks out a bit. But I absolutely enjoy the other three tracks as well. Into The Distance starts with eerie church bells and List's growling of "Cliiiiiimb" is very memorable. Sand is King starts off more brutal and brings a very threatening atmosphere across. And In The Soot is a song I love for the lyrics. They speak to my soul.
This
This was my last attempt
I'll be damned if I try again
Now, I am done and I will call down the sun
Take out this pile of sticks I thought could build my wings
Burn every branch and each board never carried and never soared
I'd rather walk on the dirt than to try again and be hurt
Has left me full of contempt
When will I learn to quit and not return?
My fault
I thought I could
But it's oh so obvious
Now, I am done and I will call down the sun
Winged fire tall
Stay on the ground for good kicking the soot
While some songs are more memorable than others, there are none on this album I dislike. Go ahead and take those 45 minutes out of your day to go down into the abyss for some cultivated gloom. Absolutely worth it.
I am very curious as to how listening to this kind of music will work for me in a festival atmosphere like Wacken, probably sometime in the afternoon when the sun is still burning. Is it possible to get into it then? I'll find out!
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