BLACK METAL DAILY’S LISTCRUSH 2021: The Tom O’Dell Edition

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Man, what a year.  Somehow despite being once again locked inside for half of it, life was busier than ever –  nevertheless, I managed to cobble together a sufficient number of Black Metal Daily pieces to qualify for a Listcrush article, and as such now, whilst you remain on this page, you exist in a realm where my opinions are mighty, trve, and entirely infallible.*  As ever, my disclaimer stands that these are simply the albums this year that kept me coming back for more, as for me that’s the mark of a great album.  Although this time I did have to deploy a colour-coded spreadsheet in order to quantify exactly what the hell was going on.  I digress…

* … you’ve already closed it, haven’t you

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Listen along whilst you read:

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THE BLACK METAL TOP 10:

10. Miasmata – Unlight: Songs of Earth and Atrophy. (Naturmacht Productions)

I love Blind Guardian and I love black metal; this album takes the melodic leads of the former and harshness of the latter to create a blisteringly triumphant record that doesn’t sound quite like anything else out there at the moment.  And to think this is only the debut – I can’t wait to see what else Miasmata has in store. READ MORE 

• Essential tracks: ‘Artifacts‘, ‘Caverns of Malachite‘

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9. Firienholt – By the Waters of Awakening. (Fólkvangr Records, Naturmacht Productions)

Emerging from paths unknown, the epic black metal trio Firienholt knocked it out the park with their debut full length this year.  It’s Caladan Brood worship of the most faithful variety, right down to the >10min track lengths, but it’s magnificently done in all regards from the writing to the production, and it’s well worth a listen for anyone seeking some epic metal feelings; read Dex’s full review HERE.

• Essential tracks: ‘Ruminations by Starlight‘, ‘The Whispering Shadow‘

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8. Praecantator – Obelisk. (Sonic Transmitter Records)

Praecantator are a relatively local band I’ve followed on Facebook for years; I remember their early work being relatively standard second-wave styled black metal, and in all honesty expected Obelisk to be more of the same when I saw it announced on my feed.  Well, I don’t know what the hell happened to these guys in lockdown, but Obelisk blew my head off with an unexpected assault of blackened death metal riffage, and now I’m firmly at the edge of my seat to see what a full length will look like.

• Essential tracks: ‘Ascent‘, ‘Empyrean‘

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7. Cân Bardd – Devoured by the Oak. (Northern Silence Productions)

Cân Bardd’s story is one of success.  Their first album was exceptionally composed and released to a wave of adoring fans; since that album they’ve only grown and grown, and Devoured by the Oak continues that trend.  Main man Malo Civelli’s writing skills are on top form, as he effortlessly blends layers upon layers of harmony and countermelody.  I’ve critiqued his clean vocals in the past, but on Oak Civelli shows clear signs of improvement that are wonderful to hear.  Cân Bardd are truly titans of the atmoblack world now, and everyone should be paying them due attention.

• Essential tracks: ‘Une couronne de branches‘, ‘Devoured by the Oak‘ 

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6. Mesarthim – CLG J02182-05102. (Avantgarde Music)

Oh boy, this album.  My experience with Mesarthim this year was one of those rare moments where music is discovered at the perfect time.  I’ve not gone back to it as often in the latter months of the year, but there was a time where I simply could not stop listening; such was the moment.  Sticking it on again now whilst writing up this list reminds me of every emotion that inspired the artiest article I’ve ever written, and I stand by it as a heartfelt recommendation to anyone who loves synths and space. 

• Essential tracks: ‘Tidal Warping‘, ‘A Generation of Star Birth, Part 1‘ 

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5. Këkht Aräkh – Pale Swordsman. (Livor Mortis)

Riding straight from one emotional heavyweight to another, Këkht Aräkh’s Pale Swordsman was another album that floored me from the first listen.  I’m used to raw black metal incorporating dungeon synth elements, but usually those synths are used to create creeping horror or a sense of fantastic scale – in contrast, the instrumental elements of Pale Swordsman that fall outside the standard metal curriculum are haunting by way of sadness and solitude.  It’s not angry, but simply mournful and incredibly personal.  And damn, that last track… 

• Essential tracks: ‘Thorns‘, ‘Swordsman‘ 

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4. Ancient Mastery – Chapter One: Across the Mountains of the Drämmarskol. (Ad Victoriam, Pest Productions, Death Kvlt Productions)

Lying somewhere between raw black metal and Summoning-worship, Ancient Mastery’s first chapter is, quite simply, magnificent.  All of it is expertly constructed for the style, but the real showstopper is the synth and keyboard work.  I dare you to listen to 4:35 in “The Passage” without raising a fist to the sky;  you can’t.  Epic stuff. 

• Essential tracks: ‘The Passage‘, ‘The Majesty of Aztara‘ 

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3. Stormkeep – Tales of Othertime. (Ván Records)

I’ve heard this album described as 2021’s Emperor tribute, but in reality it’s so much more than that.  It’s an album every bit as captivating as its majestic cover artwork, spinning tales of classic dungeons and dragons fantasy.  The production is 90s symphonic black perfected and spun through modernity, with magnificent synths, gorgeous interludes adorning the grim black metal core.  Clean vocals by Visigoth’s Jake Rogers rear their head throughout the record too, and, as anyone who knows me can attest, I can never resist anything touched by his perfect baritone.  Tales of Othertime is just so much fun; simply put, it reminds me of everything I loved about black metal when I first discovered the second wave classics in times past. 

• Essential tracks: ‘The Serpent’s Stone‘, ‘Eternal Majesty Manifest‘ 

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2. Wormwood – Arkivet. (Black Lodge Records)

Wormwood’s transition from the folky black’n’roll exhibited on Ghostlands to gloomy Scandinavian atmoblack has never been more prevalent than on Arkivet.  The subject matter is haunting, the melodies are heart wrenching, and the result is a monolith of atmospheric tragedy.  It’s no one trick pony either, with catchy riffs, solos, and ambient instrumentation scattered throughout to keep the listener engaged and immersed in the peaks and troughs of the journey.  Every time I listen, I’m staggered.   

• Essential tracks: ‘Overgrowth‘, ‘End of Message‘ 

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1. Vvilderness – As Above, So Below. (Vvilderness Records)

My initial reaction to this album was that it was more The Witcher 3 soundtrack than metal album.  As a huge Witcher fan, this presents very little issue, and I’ve spun As Above, So Below countless times since it’s November release.  Perhaps controversially for my Black Metal list, it’s not the blackened elements that keep me coming back for more; it’s the expertly constructed folk sections with instruments and layers I can’t even name, it’s the melodies that call the high points of The Jester Race to mind… and it’s the raw feeling of nature that perfectly places the listener in some vast forest in the heart of the Continent.  Of course the blackness is there, used throughout as a required burst of ferocity, but also used with remarkable, expertly crafted restraint.  If you want the most emotive metal album of 2021, this is it.  

• Essential tracks: ‘As Above, So Below‘, ‘All Fires Die Out‘ 

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HONOURABLE MENTIONS: Windfaerer; Grima; Genune; Kauan; Decline of the I; Hulder; Belore; Carathis.

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THE NON BLACK METAL TOP 12:

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12. Knife – Knife. (Dying Victims Productions) 

This was the year I got into fun, dumb speed metal, and whilst most of this was homework on essential listening from earlier years, (looking at you, Bütcher), Knife took the crown for 2021’s trvest speed.  It’s exactly what you want from the genre, with cutting vocals, snarling riffs, and hooks you’ll have stuck in your head for days.  All of it done with absolutely no subtlety, and zero fucks given.  

• Essential tracks: ‘Black Leather Hounds‘, ‘K.N.I.F.E.’ 

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11. Stormtide – A Throne of Hollow Fire. (Metal Hell Records)

Melodic death metal has been around for a hell of a long time now, so it’s vital that new bands seeking to make their name in the genre find some way to keep it fresh.  Stormtide go for the epic approach, implementing eastern instrumentation alongside symphonics and blastbeats to generate a sense of wonder and mystery that pervades through the record.  The vocal delivery leaves a bit to be desired by way of diversity, but there are true moments of excellence where the vocals line up with the instruments – and when Stormtide do hit the mark, it’s damn enjoyable stuff.   

• Essential tracks: ‘Eternal Fire‘, ‘Awakening‘ 

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10. Inferi – Vile Genesis. (The Artisan Era)

Technical death metal had a phenomenal 2021.  Every band in the genre seemed to up their game, and so competition was fierce for spots on this list.  Vile Genesis shows Inferi honing their melodic ability whilst retaining their fearsome technicality, crafting an altogether more digestible but no less impressive album than 2018’s Revenant.  It falls down a little bit in terms of memorability when compared to some later entries in the same genre, but it’s an achievement to be proud of and absolutely worth a listen. 

• Essential tracks: ‘Simian Hive‘, ‘Mesmeric Horror‘ 

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9. Blood Red Throne – Imperial Congregation. (Nuclear Blast)

A pretty late discovery from a band I wasn’t familiar with at all, Imperial Congregation is modern death metal done properly.  As one would expect, it’s filled with sledgehammer riffs that beat you into relentless headbanging, but it’s also got sufficient depth and memorability to keep you wanting to come back for more.  The production is crisp and the songwriting is concise, making it eminently replayable, and the beating it delivers on the tenth play is just as massive as the first. 

• Essential tracks: ‘Conquered Malevolence‘, ‘Transparent Existence‘ 

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8. Ravenous E.H. – Hubris. (Feast Beast Records)

Power metal by way of the American school of heavy metal, Ravenous E.H.’s Hubris is carried largely by a phenomenal vocal talent in R. A. Voltaire, whose mighty baritone is one of my favourite discoveries of the year.  Bolstered by a luscious mix, Hubris is suitably grandiose and theatrical to be the strongest power metal album of 2021.  I’m not sure how it would contend against other North American power/heavyweights – say, if Visigoth, Eternal Champion and Judicator all released in 2021 too.  But I’m excited to see what the future has in store for Ravenous, and if the fortunes of metal are kind, we may see such a contest in the future, and bask in the inevitable trve glory. 

• Essential tracks: ‘Son of Storms‘, ‘Die 1,000 Deaths‘
• https://ravenouseternalhunger.bandcamp.com/album/hubris 

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7. Mental Cruelty – A Hill to Die Upon. (Unique Leader Records)

Anyone who doesn’t think deathcore is one of the most exciting genres in metal at the moment is kidding themselves, and that is a hill I will indeed die upon.  Mental Cruelty take the blackened and symphonic elements utilised by peers like Lorna Shore and craft one of the biggest albums I’ve heard in a while.  The symphonics are majestic, and perfectly offset and compliment the sheer brutality of the riffs and vocals.  My only desire is for an occasional moment of clean vocals, as showcased by bands like Shadow of Intent and Fit For An Autopsy, just to add a touch of diversity in the otherwise mostly relentless assault.  

• Essential tracks: ‘Ultima Hypocrita‘, ‘Abadon‘ 

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6. Interloper – Search Party. (Nuclear Blast)

A surprising entry for my list, Interloper’s brand of progressive metalcore really stuck with me.  Impressively technical yet not to the point of limited accessibility, lead vocalist Andrew Virrueta’s clean tone bears a remarkable similarity to Chester Bennington, which suits the material perfectly.  The hooks are massive, and the progressive songwriting is effective and driving; in many ways, it’s not something I feel I know how to write about, but I cannot recommend Search Party enough.  

• Essential tracks: ‘Idle Years‘, ‘Pathkeeper‘

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5. Rivers of Nihil – The Work. (Metal Blade Records)

A deeply surprising album considering my expectations, The Work falls very much in the category of works that should be listened to in order, in one sitting.  Shuffle play can’t capture the balance between ambient calm and intense deathened fury that the album juxtaposes, and it’s that balance that feels like the record’s greatest strength.  It’s a fairly long album, but if you stick with it, you’ll be rewarded with a journey unlike any other this year. 

• Essential tracks: ‘Terrestria IV: The Work’, ‘The Void from Which No Sound Escapes‘

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4. Ephemerald – Between the Glimpses of Hope. (Inverse Records)

Equal parts modern melodeath and atmospheric metal, Ephemerald struck a chord with me instantly through their songwriting.  It’s an epic album without question, and displays a flair for balancing driving melodeath with synthy ambience.  But it’s not just that I enjoy it; it’s that large parts of it feel like material I would write, and so it feels intimately familiar.  Everything from the synth choices, to the song structures and clean harmonies had me nodding, thinking “yes, they’ve made the right decision there”.  A wonderful album. 

• Essential tracks: ‘Reborn‘, ‘All There Is‘

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3. Archspire – Bleed the Future. (Season Of Mist)

Quite frankly, it’s ridiculous how Archspire are able to write music that’s so inconceivably technical and yet undeniably catchy.  They show off to no end, yet fit it into a concisely edited 30 minute album, clearly knowing that 30 minutes is about the perfect length for this level of intense yet enjoyable audio assault – half the time I don’t have any idea what’s happening, but I know I’m loving it.  Bleed the Future doesn’t quite take the techdeath crown for 2021 for me, but it’s an essential listen regardless.  

• Essential tracks: ‘Drone Corpse Aviator‘, ‘Golden Mouth of Ruin‘ 

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2. Obscura – A Valediction. (Nuclear Blast)

Man, this was an album.  Obscura were the first techdeath band I really got into, with 2009’s Cosmogenesis and 2018’s Diluvium being particular highlights.  With another dramatic lineup change in the build up to A Valediction, I was a little uncertain what to expect.  Would it lean towards the spacey prog, or the overtly technical side of the band’s previous efforts?  The answer – neither.  A Valediction is technical yes, but primarily melodic and furious, and even thrashy.  It’s like if Slaughter of the Soul was delivered by a tech band, and it absolutely rips.  Monster riffs and grooves are layered throughout, and the vocals are delivered with positive rabidness, and it’s just irresistible – I think the ending of “In Adversity” could even be classed as a beatdown.  Obscura haven’t just made the best tech death album of the year, they’ve potentially made the best album of their career. 

• Essential tracks: ‘In Adversity‘, ‘When Stars Collide‘

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1. Lorna Shore – … As I Return to Nothingness. (Century Media)

How can a three track EP be my favourite release of the year, you ask?  Simple – it’s sensational.  Whatever places Lorna Shore went in the short time since 2020’s Immortal must have been imbibed with some kind of magic, as this EP takes every element I loved about that album and dials it to 11.  New vocalist Will Ramos is an exceptional talent, the melodic writing is delicious from the guitar leads to the ever-growing symphonic/blackened influence, and the breakdowns are a whole new level of give-no-fucks fun.  All eyes are on Lorna Shore for the full-length follow up to this, and if the quality is this high again, I can’t see another band coming close to catching them.  

• Essential tracks: All of them, there are only 3! 

HONOURABLE MENTIONS: Words of Farewell; VOLA; Edu Falaschi; Fallensun; Ghosts of Atlantis

I also released music this year!  If you’ve got this far, I’m allowed to blow my own horn a little:

Sojourner – Perennial:

Dwarrowdelf – Cold Lie the Ashes:

 

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Black Metal Daily‘s LISTCRUSH returns with The GOS Edition and Dex‘s full-length album Edition soon.

Follow Black Metal Daily on Facebook, Instagram, Spotify and Bandcamp HERE for more cult sounds and tonal blasphemy.

Crossing the Event Horizon – An Interview With SOJOURNER

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By Tom O’Dell (Dwarrowdelf)

Intro by Dex

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Multinational folk/atmospheric outfit SOJOURNER are one of those all-too-rare projects that only get better with every successive release. From humble beginnings both their two albums have quickly seen to garner them an increasingly rabid and appreciative fan base, further spellbound by the epic, emotional storm they summon with growing potency each time. A new Sojourner album is fast becoming a must-hear event for those in the know, so it’s very good news that in a few weeks they’ll be unleashing the latest fruit of their collective endeavours – the aptly titled (and all-around stunning) Premonitions. I say “aptly titled” because if you’ve been following their journey at all then you yourself may have had a premonition that with time this collective of talented souls would grow into something huge… and if that were the case, well then. With this album, they’ll have proven you completely correct.

The music contained within this album is nothing short of magnificent, as is the spirit behind it all. Soaring, triumphant leads meet deep and devastating melancholia in the most beautiful of ways, driven always by the dual male/female vocals they do better than most. Chloe Bray‘s in particular are stunning, tugging at heartstrings on the incredibly well-done and personal-sounding ballad ‘Talas’… which immediately segues into the darkest and heaviest song they’ve ever put their name to, ‘Fatal Frame’. This ripper flips the script and showcases Emilio Crespo‘s impressive roar; plus it’s based on a video game, no less. This paradoxical yet complimentary pairing of songs is an incredible one-two emotional punch, emblematic of the spirit of the album as a whole: no boundaries, no fear and of the utmost quality all around. You can genuinely feel that they’ve poured every single ounce of themselves into the record, developing and pushing their sound further than they ever have before and as a result of that becoming stronger than ever, blossoming into an absolute powerhouse – one completely deserving of their recent move to the mighty Napalm Records, too.

Unfortunately only two songs are available for streaming as yet (the aforementioned ‘Fatal Frame’ and ‘The Deluge’, with accompanying video for the latter and a killer solo from Jostein Thomassen of Borknagar on the former), but our in-house epic black metal legend Tom O’Dell of Dwarrowdelf is here (and on the album, see if you can spot his dulcet tones when the whole thing drops) to help shed a little more light on this remarkable record in a chat with throatsmith Emilio and multi-instrumentalist Mike Lamb. It’s a wonderful and revealing read as you’d expect, so I shall steal its thunder no more – read on below and get excited for the full May 8th unveiling. I’ve a premonition you might just like it.

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Hi guys – thanks for agreeing to virtually swing by for a chat! Before we get into it, can I quickly ask you to introduce yourselves?

Emilio: Thanks for inviting us! Well, I’m one of the founding members and I do vocals and write most of the lyrics.

Mike L.: Thanks for virtually having us man! I’m one of the founding members as well, and I’m one of the songwriters along with Chloe. Chloe and I share most of the instruments during recording, but I stick to guitar live. I also do the producing and engineering of the records before we send them off for final mixing and mastering, so my home studio is basically Sojourner HQ.

This album isn’t your first time at the rodeo, with Premonitions being your third record, and you’ve amassed quite the loyal fanbase since your first release in 2015. However, it’s your first album on Napalm Records, a huge name in the metal world. Did knowing that this album would be exposed to a potentially massive audience change the way you approached writing it at all?

Mike L.: Nah, not at all! When Napalm approached us about signing, I had a fairly detailed discussion with them about making sure we weren’t signing away any creative control. It’s always been an important point for all of us that we can create exactly what we want, how we want, without anyone getting involved and trying to steer things. Napalm were really reassuring about the fact that they wouldn’t be involved in any of it musically or visually, so that sealed it for us. The entire album and all art, layouts etc. were completed on our end and then sent off to them in the final form.

This album is the natural evolution from The Shadowed Road in a similar way that The Shadowed Road was a natural evolution from Empires of Ash, I’m sure some people won’t like the additional polish that goes on to each album but we just push forward doing what we want to hear and accept that you’re never going to please everyone.

On a similar note, since releasing The Shadowed Road in 2018, you’ve gained a wealth of touring experience, completing the transformation from studio project to live band with aplomb. I know you’ve found that some of your previous songs transitioned to a live environment better than others – was there any sense that this new album needed to be an album to play live? Did the newfound wealth of experience playing together affect the writing process?

Mike L.: The writing process has always just been me and Chloe kind of doing what comes naturally to us, and our styles just mesh together so it kind of felt like we just kept doing what we’ve always done in a lot of ways… but I think the live thing definitely has impacted some aspects of it. When you translate the songs live, you really start to see what gets a response from people and what doesn’t, so instead of writing it in the sense of “would this work live?” We were writing with the knowledge of what parts of our sound best translated to something that people respond to in a more visceral way. For example, when we play live, songs like ‘Aeons of Valor’, ‘An Oath Sworn in Sorrow’, ‘Titan’, and ‘The Shadowed Road’ get really nice responses and a lot of that is because of the punchy, driving more dynamic stuff and some of the heavier sections. So we wanted to exploit some of that more punchy sound and focus on dynamics a bit more, while still maintaining the core sound we’ve built up over the previous two albums.

We also tried to keep the song lengths down a bit this time and expand the tracklist out from 7 songs to 8 songs instead. We still have a couple of tracks that push 8 minutes, but you’ve heard the last of the 10 minute Sojourner tracks…songs like ‘Where Lost Hope Lies’ and ‘Empires of Ash’ just don’t work live, and it’s just generally so much more effective to be concise where you can be without sacrificing feel… though, looking at the tracklist, I don’t know how well we succeeded at this whole being concise thing haha but it’s fine, we’re never going to be a 3 minute song band either.

In another milestone for the band, lead single ‘The Deluge’ is accompanied by a video shot in the spectacular scenery of Scotland! There’s a video on the Napalm Records YouTube channel discussing the meaning behind the video, so I won’t ask you to repeat yourselves, but I’m curious as to how you found the experience? Was it a few days of wholesome band fun up the glorious mountains, or were there any unexpected stresses?

Emilio: It was a ton of fun but, of course, there was some stress going into it. We had a limit of three days to film the entire thing. We had just come off our UK tour with Havukrunnu and our director flew in with his girlfriend and we quickly discussed the final details of what we were going to do. We basically shot for like 10 hours each day and weather didn’t matter haha! Once it was all done the feeling of relaxation and pride settled in. We’re truly happy with the result!

It seems like there’s a bit of a stylistic evolution on Premonitions. You’ve broken with tradition and declined to depict a castle on the album artwork, and the lyrical content and song titles of the songs are more wide ranging than, say, the more traditional fantasy elements present on debut album Empires of Ash. I’ve seen you state online that you’ve all been through some trying times since the last album was released – how is that reflected in the themes of this new record? Was there anything in particular that you were trying to explore?

Emilio: From a lyrical standpoint I just wanted to tap into what I was going through at the time, really. I still love what I’ve written on the previous albums but I didn’t want to write stories that I’ve made up in my mind. I wanted to dig deep and put all my emotions on paper and evoke those feelings with my voice. Aside from the cliché saying “This is our best album ever”, I believe it’s such a real album on every level and I couldn’t be more proud of it.

Mike L.: Musically we channeled a lot of those feelings in there as well, which accounts for the overall darker tone of the album. Artwork-wise we decided to ditch the castle ruins and go for something a bit darker, and a bit more abstract. I think three albums in we would’ve been beating a dead horse with another ruin, even though we missed the chance to put one on the right and complete the triptych of Sojourner castle covers. The giant owl statue is a risk, not everyone is going to love it, and not everyone does haha, but it represents the album perfectly and doesn’t alienate the fans of the fantasy elements that we’ve built the band on either.

This album was much more real for all of us in the band, but at the same time it’s still escapist music that is supposed to transport people somewhere else and not be a depressing dirge. In a lot of ways, by pouring the emotion that we did into it, writing and producing this album was an escape for all of us from the negative things going on in our lives at the time.

Along with this thematic evolution, there’s also a great sense of musical development in these new songs. Whereas your debut was definable to a large extent as folk-influenced atmoblack, Premonitions does its best to escape categorisation. There’s so much going on, from melodeath-esque leads, to brutal growls, serene synths, and of course your trademark four-chord epic climaxes. Would I be correct in assuming that you’re working to escape from the confines of the atmoblack stereotype, in a way? And how do you hope the fans you’ve gained from the past two releases will react to the way the band has grown?

Mike L.: It’s not that we consciously wanted to escape the atmospheric black metal scene so much that we have just gradually stopped worrying as much about what’s ‘acceptable’ in the genre confines and what’s not, and we just started to make music that we want to make with no boundaries. We fell into the atmoblack scene pretty hard with the initial release of the ‘Heritage of the Natural Realm’ single back in 2015, and we will forever be grateful to Lightfox and his YouTube channels for helping us get where we are; though I think the fanbase that we accumulated with that sort of shaped some of how we approached writing Empires of Ash in the end. We still did what we wanted by incorporating folk metal, melodic death metal, doom metal, and even power metal, but we were a little more conscious of wanting to please the fanbase we had accumulated through the atmoblack scene back then. There was always a worry that this thing may be a little bit too power metal, or that might be a little too melodic death, or that maybe we haven’t included enough tremolo riffs or blastbeats to please the purists.

After Empires of Ash came out and we had such an amazing response by such insanely supportive fans, who often mentioned the fact that they appreciated our eclectic mashup of stuff, so we just let loose on The Shadowed Road and actively tried to label ourselves ‘atmospheric metal’ whenever possible. It felt disingenuous to tie ourselves to black metal directly anyway, since it’s one influence among many. That just extrapolated out to the evolution on Premonitions now too, with us going further out in the direction we always wanted to. We know we’ve lost some fans on the way, we even lost some with The Shadowed Road, but we gained way more than we lost along the way and you can’t please everyone. We just really appreciate the people that have stuck with us, and the people who join us as we go!

A lot of online spectators have likened your previous works to that of Saor, Summoning, Caladan Brood and so on, although to my ear there’s a stronger influence from melodic death/doom bands like Draconian and Insomnium, especially on The Shadowed Road. Obviously as discussed above, there’s a wide range of styles and influences to be found in these new songs, but are there any surprising influences that go further than this? What unlikely artists or experiences have helped to mold Sojourner going into this album?

Mike L.: We all totally agree with you on that! Bands like Insomnium, Draconian, Agalloch, Rotting Christ, Be’lakor, Eluveitie, Moonsorrow, Primordial, Paradise Lost, Novembre, Katatonia, Dark Tranquillity, and Borknagar have always been much bigger direct influences on us. We really appreciate the bands you mention, I just wouldn’t say they played a huge role in our forming or our sound. It feels a little bit like you include black metal and synths and you’re directly labelled a ‘Summoning clone’… that’s something you can’t really escape, but we all appreciate Summoning and they’re masters of what they do. There’s a pretty hilarious thread on one of the album reviews on Sputnikmusic, it might be The Shadowed Road I think, where a bunch of people are getting really butthurt over somebody mentioning us in the same breath as Summoning… that’s a battle we’re never going to win, but we were never gunning for Summoning’s style, I don’t even think we’re in the same wheelhouse personally haha.

To answer the question directly though, yeah there are definitely some surprise influences on Premonitions that I don’t think people would connect; a big one is Sleep Token, one of my favorite bands of the last few years and one that everyone in the band has really gotten into as well. They were pretty instrumental in helping me survive a pretty nightmarish year, so they’re pretty close to my heart. It’s not something you’ll hear directly, but a lot of their approach to production has influenced me hugely, along with their mastery of melodic lines and layering. The outro to ‘The Event Horizon’ is a direct nod to Sleep Token. The Australian band Suldusk released an incredibly beautiful album called Lunar Falls last April which really inspired me when I needed it most, as well as Drab Majesty’s Modern Mirror and Idle Hands’ Mana. Xanthochroid’s Of Erthe & Axen double-album has also been a constant and recurring influence on me since it was released in 2017, especially Act I (the first album).

It’s obviously hard to predict the future (who could have foreseen that all the metal tours in the world would be cancelled due to a bloody pandemic…), but where do you see the band headed in the next year or two? What doors are you hoping this spectacular album will open for you? Is there anything exciting in the works that you can spill the beans on?

Emilio: We did make a huge transition from being a studio band to touring or playing festivals more often now. We hope to expand on that and do even more tours and festivals in the future. We do have some stuff in the pipeline for the live front but we can’t exactly say just yet!

I think that’s a good place to start wrapping things up! Thank you all for your time and insightful answers, it’s been a true pleasure. Premonitions is a triumph, and I think the world is going to love it. Before you go, do you have any final words for the readers?

Mike L.: Thanks for having us and thanks for the kind words! It’s been fun!

Premonitions releases May 8th via Napalm Records. Pre-orders available now.

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Pre-order Premonitions digitally from the Sojourner Bandcamp HERE or on CD and 2LP from the Napalm Records webstore HERE.

Support SOJOURNER:

• Official Facebook
• Official Bandcamp
• Official Instagram
• Official YouTube

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