Greatings metalheads – welcome back to another episode of The Great Metal Debate Podcast - today we’re talking about Kvaen and their newest album The Great Below, which came out on March 25th. Let’s begin dissecting each new song track by track.
The first song is called “Cauldron of Plagues.” I love how the first 1 second of this song is silent; then, 2 seconds in, we hear Jakob breath in through his mouth before unleashing a long black metal scream by the 3rd second. It really lets the listener know that he is once again pouring maximum effort into vocal delivery. The rest of the song is exactly what you’d expect from Jakob – a specific tone to his raspy vocals that should be very recognizeable to true fans.
The next song on the album is the title track “The Great Below.” It starts of with some finger tapping on the low end of the guitar neck that proceeds with some palm-muted rapid single-string plucking. This all takes place before the main, galloping riff that makes up the majority of the song. ‘Majority’ being the key word, as we have a guest appearance from none other than Jeff Loomis to perform a guitar solo. Directly after the solo, the tempo changes slightly in a way that it’s near impossible not to bang your head.
While Jakob previously made nearly an entire album completely by himself, this time around he has quite a few people from the metal scene giving him a helping hand that he truly deserves. In this track titled “In Silence,” it’s anything but silent. It is a loud and extremely fast paced black metal track that really gets in your face. It begins with an eerie, horror-esque soundtrack complete with heavy footsteps, distant chanting, followed by the human heartbeat. This is when the song picks up with the crystal-clean snare drum that has perfect pitch. The song features Nephente, who is the founding member of the Swedish melodic black metal act known as Netherbird.
After seven minutes of chaos, you can prepare for total annihilation by track number four which is called “Damnations Jaw.” The opening riff is an unmistakable black metal riff played in a narrow scale with fast strumming and heavy distortion which can only be found in this subgenre. If it wasn’t clear enough, a hellish screech fades in with it. This song features yet another legendary guitarist for the solo, Mike Weed from King Diamond.
“Sulphur Fire” is the fifth track, that introduces the drums slowly but develops into a steady drumroll before double bass blastbeats. This time around Jakob plays his own solo, but the same can’t be said for the sixth track which is entitled “Ensamvarg.” “Ensamvarg” is definitely my favorite new Kvaen song. Something about Jakob’s vocals on this one reminds me a lot of the song “Black Dragon” by Dissection. Though the musical structure is absolutely nothing alike, I can’t help but notice the way the vocals sound spaced apart in small bursts.
“Your Mighty Has Fallen” is next - one of the few songs on this album where it’s Jakob doing everything. It seems as though everything this band touches becomes a masterpiece. The eighth and final song on this record is “The Fire Within Him Burns.” This one features guest vocalist Mathias Lillmåns from the band Finntroll. It’s a great way to conclude a highly anticipated release from a single talented musician who can hold his own beside bands with full lineups.
I very much enjoyed everything in The Great Below, and would have to give it an 8.5 out of 10. Be sure to show your support by purchasing Jakob’s music through the Kvaen bandcamp page or through his label, Black Lion Records.