Review Summary: Beauty in Tragedy
Draconian is a melodic death/doom metal band hailing from our favorite frostbitten Nordic-metal country of Sweden. They play a somewhat Gothic take on doom metal, with piano flourishes and somber female croons present on most of their albums. For those who are already fans of Draconian, there isn't much of anything new to find on this record. In spite of this, "Sovran" contains some of the strongest songs of Draconians career off this record, such as the crushing, yet equally as melodic and grief stricken first track "Heavy Lies the Crown". There are harrowing, immense gutturals that persist throughout the album, and while perhaps this could come across as monotonous due to the limited style of their male vocalist, they are well balanced with the angelic voice of Heike Langhans. Heike especially proves herself as a valuable asset of the track "The Wretched Tide" where her blissful, soothing voice permeates the atmosphere and makes for a hazy and and ethereal experiences. Perhaps that's the best way to describe this album-ethereal.
Despite being rather basic and repetitive, the atmosphere through this album is perfect levels of daunting, gloomy and wistfully hopeful. The guitar work is slow and trudges at a grinding pace (albeit, faster then the likes of bands like Funeral or Bell Witch), and is backed by occasional elegant violins and pianos. They aren't present enough to take away from the role of the guitar riffs but are forward enough to add layers of beauty to their music. The trip they take you on is simply magnificent, like drifting off into the midst of space surrounded by a night sky vast and boundless, stars dotting the air. This is simply the nature of Draconian's music, and this proven once again off of "Sovran". Occasionally, this is broken by tracks like "Stellar Tombs" which has a brief spell of romping energy, otherwise, the hazy, obfuscated atmosphere remains.
Music like this that takes you on these majestic journeys is what makes writing about them such a splendid joy to begin with. Pure, blissful and crepuscular albums like this. It's very easy to become lost in the sweeping caress of "Sovran", being both invigorated and riled with energy from the more energetic tracks such as "Stellar Tombs" to having the breath slowly purged from you off tracks like "No Lonelier Star". This is an album that cradles despair and remorse with open arms, embracing the beauty in tragedy.
