Year: 2021
Total Time: 40:42
Label: The Sign Records
VOKONIS come from our beloved Sweden and “Odyssey” is their fourth album. Having started somewhere between Stoner and Doom metal, record after record, they began to adopt a more progressive style.
To paint a better picture of the the sound of the Swedes, imagine MASTODON jamming with SPIRITUAL BEGGARS while in the next room you have the recent years OPETH playing along. Nice combination, huh? It would be great if the influences of MASTODON did not overshadow everything.
Straight from the first track, the first riff you hear is straight out from the first albums of the American lords of progressive Sludge. And it’s not just the riffs, but also the vocals that follow exactly the Mastodon style: bellowing like Sanders’, screams like Hinds’ and clean like Dailor’s.
This whole sonic assault is enriched by the very Per Wiberg with his keys. And its these moments that we can see the most progressive character of the band. The prog moments of the album are the ones that have won me over so far however and that I would like to see VOKONIS explore more in the future.
The album consists of six tracks. Three small dynamites and three longer songs. The short tracks are the most aggressive of the album, guided by well executed riffs that feel like they came out of a lost MASTODON record between “Leviathan” and “Blood Mountain”. The production is impeccable and emphasizes in particular the bass that fills tastefully the music of the three Swedes. All songs have several changes, which in line with the three vocal styles, keep the listener’s interest undiminished.
The longer songs is where the band seems to be left free to embrace its melodic side. As in the excellent “Hollow Waters”; melodies on the guitar, meet melodic vocal lines and all this alternates very nicely with the rougher side of VOKONIS. Still though, the band can’t seem to escape the shadow of MASTODON.
Apart from the aforementioned bands, we could also add BARONESS and KYLESA to the mix as well as some more classical elements (such as the MAIDEN-esque melody in the middle of “Azure”.)
The album as a whole is tremendously remarkable, with excellent production and very nice ideas. But for someone who knows the work of MASTODON very well, VOKONIS sounds dangerously close to the sound of the guys from Atlanta, which subtracts several points from their personality as a band. If you can ignore this though, you will then experience an awesome prog sludge/doom album with the quality guaranteed by a country like Sweden.
Rating: 6.5
Editor: Dimitris Benetatos
Related Link: VOKONIS – Facebook Page
