Svatan - Blazing Winds of Transcendence

Key Facts

Country: 🇧🇷

Genre: Black Metal, Atmospheric Black Metal

Release Date: 16th March 2019

Record Label(s): Drakkar Productions Brazil,  Misanthropic Records

Band Members:

Foizer - Keyboards, Guitars, Bass (2015-present)

Lamferniis - Vocals (2015-present)

Absiel - Bass (2018-present)

Perversor  - Drums (2018-present)

D.Katharsis - Guitars (2018-present)

Svatan - Infernal Sworn

Review

Rating (out of 5🤘): 🤘🤘🤘🤘.5

Favourite Track(s): The Oath Of White Horse, Diabolical Thrive Of Sorrow, The Birth Of The Black Sun, Occult Gateways, Absolute Transcendence, Infernal Sworn

Brazilian black metal wizards Svatan summon the demons from across the far reaches of the universe with hypnotic and ritualistic album Blazing Winds of Transcendence. I've always felt that black metal from the Latin American countries have a lot more edge to their albums in this modern age of black metal. Mainly due to the fact that Catholicism is still a major part of life in that part of the world, so this type of music is still underground. There is still a lot more to rebel against, especially with a lot of the political and religious institutions instability. With this background context in mind, it gives this album a lot more ferocity and venom which would make Satan proud. As an album Blazing Winds of Transcendence is a complete package of riffs and rich symphonic texture that will transport your occult arse around the cosmos.

Musically, it carries all the hallmarks of traditional black metal with a symphonic edge to it through the various piano passages. It's dark but also has this strange and ominous air of evil optimism, it's hard to describe really. It's rich in texture and atmosphere that really makes it feel like a dark cosmology ritual. It mixes unforgiving relentlessness with the delicacy of a piano and the songs sound really thought out and developed. Each song is packed with a multitude of sounds and textures that will take a few listens through to fully discover. Occult Gateways is the slowest track on the album, with floaty guitar melodies over doom like chords, almost at funeral march pace. Absolute Transcendence is a song that I think most sums up the album musically the climax before the end so to speak. The layers and intricacy of the guitar and piano parts over the usual thundering drums that we find in black metal throughout this album is beautifully done. The song that really caps of the album for me is Infernal Sworn with its choir sections reminding me of Dimmu Borgir and Batushka. Where as Absolute Transcendence is the culmination of everything before it, Infernal Sworn wraps it all up as a very satisfying conclusion. 

I love the production on this album, for me it is very reminiscent of Dimmu Borgir's 2018 release Eonian. Obviously with less of the symphonic stuff, but in terms of the guitar tones, vocals and the way the piano is mixed definitely gives me those sort of vibes. The mix through out the album is very consistent, but one thing I don't like so much are the very obvious fades at the ends of some of the tracks, I think with an album as texturally rich as this one it would have been good to hear some of the songs bleed into one another. Besides that, I love the sonic space that each song has, its a very spacious and open sounding album but still carries a raw and rough element to it. The cleans of the guitars (often in the intros) really stick out to me as well, there is a real subtly to them yet they sound bright despite the melodies they play being dark. The vocals sound awesome on this album too, partly because I can hear what Lamferniis is saying (that's down to his awesome technique), there's just enough reverb on them to not suffocate them. Which adds a really atmosphere in itself. Overall it is an incredibly well mixed album considering that it is black metal. 

To conclude, this is a great album and I can't believe I only heard about it the other day, definitely flew under the radar! So if you fancy some Latin American fire and furiously to liven up your Spotify library, definitely add Blazing Winds of Transcendence to it, you will not be disappointed!

Svatan - Blazing Winds of Transcendence