The Alleviation
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Publication |
July 20, 2007 |
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| Label (s) | Twilight Records | |||
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Title (number) |
7th |
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running time |
34 min 03 s |
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Studio (s) |
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The Alleviation is the debut album by the Norwegian extreme metal band Sworn . It was released on July 20, 2007 via the German label Twilight Vertrieb.
History of origin
The songwriting process for The Alleviation took around two years in total. The first three completed songs Skyggens Ankomst (renamed Alleviation ), Heart of Decay and The Beauty of my Funeral were partly written in 2004, i.e. before the band was officially founded. They were first released on the Night Supremacy demo . They were re-recorded for The Alleviation . By summer 2006 the remaining four songs had been composed and written.
The album was recorded and produced in September 2006 in the Bergen Conclave Media Studio , where bands such as Helheim and Taake have already recorded various albums. Before the recordings were finished, then singer Roland "Røst" Røtne left the band in mid-September 2006. A replacement for Røtne was found in the former guest singer Lars Jensen , who had already sung on the demo. The vocal parts were recorded by him in his own home studio , the Koia-Studio . The band took on the production in collaboration with Bjørnar Erevik Nilsen, who had also worked with In Flames , Dimmu Borgir , Within Temptation and other well-known metal bands. The final mastering was done by the German sound engineer and guitarist of the band Hel , Markus Skroch.
In March 2007 Sworn signed a record deal with the German Twilight distributor and released The Allevitation on July 20th. Through the album, Torsten Kühn, for his part managing director of the German Showbiz Management & Booking Agency , became aware of the band, and helped them to numerous concerts and a relatively high level of awareness, especially in Germany.
Track list
All songs were composed by Christoffer Kjørsvik, all lyrics written by Tom Ian Rogne Klungland.
| # | title | length |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alleviation | 04:57 |
| 2 | Heart of Decay | 03:58 |
| 3 | Silhouettes of a broken world | 05:10 |
| 4th | Derived | 01:12 |
| 5 | Crow of passage | 04:20 |
| 6th | Vivid visions | 07:23 |
| 7th | The beauty of my funeral | 07:02 |
style
music
As the band themselves describe their style of music as Melodic Extreme Metal , the music of The Alleviation can be described as a mixture of various hard metal varieties, or as Extreme Metal .
In particular, the compositions are based on Black Metal from the 1990s, plus elements of Thrash and Heavy Metal . Occasionally there are also echoes of Power and Viking Metal , so that the music can also be described as Melodic Black Metal. The music is compared by the trade press with bands like Windir , Naglfar and I .
Passages in medium tempo are dominant in all songs. Most pieces have playing times around five to eight minutes.
Lars Jensen's vocals are screaming typical of the Black Metal genre , although deep growls are occasionally used as a stylistic device . There is no clear singing.
Klunglands drumming is heavily influenced by Black Metal. Many blast beats and fast double bass runs are used, but other techniques such as variations of the basic beat , supporting rhythms based on it and numerous fill-ins characterize his playing style. The author "Bluttaufe" from schwermetall.ch particularly praises the "computer-like" precision of the drummer. Klungland's musical ability is also evident in the skillful change between slower and faster tempos.
The mostly complex guitar figures are particularly characterized by their driving rhythms, abrupt changes in tempo and catchy melodies. The successful harmonies with polyphonic melodies and various technical refinements are also characteristic. Guitar solos are not essential to Sworn's compositions and are only introduced occasionally, as in Heart of Decay or Vivid Visions . Stylistically, these solos are similar, with playing techniques such as sweep picking , to those of progressive metal or NWoBHM bands . The bass mostly only has an accompanying function.
Texts
In Derived is an instrumental piece; the lyrics to the remaining songs deal with darkness, despair, pain, suffering and death, madness, insanity and madness. Lyricist and drummer Tom Ian Rogne Klungland says he is particularly inspired by "deep human emotions and the [the] progress of evil" . Religious or political issues are not dealt with. All lyrics are in English .
criticism
The album was almost without exception praised by the trade press, and received the highest number of points, or at least a very good rating, in several reviews.
The sometimes extremely well thought-out compositions were particularly emphasized in many reviews. Only the comparatively short playing time of only 34 minutes was often criticized.
Michael "Hannes" Schindler from the webzine heavyhardes.de awarded five out of six points and commented on the album as follows:
“Beautiful melodies unfold in front of you, make you melancholy and [...] cast a spell over me. The whole album is an easy-going affair, but it always seems serious and never meaningless. [...] With The Alleviation, the band [has] succeeded in creating a wonderful album that should delight every fan of the melodic black metal. "
The Allevitation by Kristina "Brösel" from metal-district.de receives 8.5 out of ten points . She writes about the album:
“The Alleviation” makes your mouth watery. Awesome guitar riffs, driving rhythms, really successful tempo changes, catchy melodies that you just have to shake your head at ( headbanging ) [...]. As good as nothing remains to be desired and I don't even know where to start praising. [...] Hopefully something will follow soon. And FAST! "
Ricarda Schwoebel from powermetal.de comes to the following conclusion in her review:
“Sworn manage to secure their place in the actually overcrowded Black Metal world with their debut. "The Alleviation" is fun from beginning to end, and the only thing to complain about is that the playing time of less than 40 minutes is really measly. [...] But at least you get seven quality pieces here that every Black- Metal heart and especially that of a WINDIR fan beat faster. "
A rating is not given.
The fact that the album was also well received internationally is shown by the review by Lars Christiansen, who wrote the following about The Allevitation for the Canadian webzine metalcrypt.com and gave it 4.5 out of five points:
“It's needless to say; if you're a fan of this style of music [Melodic Black Metal] you'll be sure to find a worthy album in this release. It's certainly had a great length of time glued to my CD player, something which is becoming more and more of a rarity these days for a debut release from a melodic black / death band. "
“Needless to say; If you are a Melodic Black Metal fan, this album is definitely a great release. I had listened to it over and over for a long time, which is increasingly rare these days on a debut album of a Melodic Black / Death Metal Band occurs. "
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g News ( Memento of July 3, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), sworn.no, accessed on June 27, 2011 (English).
- ↑ a b SWORN - Info , facebook.com, accessed on June 27, 2011 (English).
- ↑ a b c d page no longer available , search in web archives: The Alleviation Review , webzine.pivotalalliance.com, accessed on February 10, 2011 (English)
- ↑ a b c d Hannes: CD Review: Sworn - The Alleviation , heavyhardes.de, accessed on June 27, 2011.
- ↑ a b c d The Alleviation (Promo-Demo) Review , metalmesage.de, accessed on February 10, 2011 (offline)
- ↑ a b c d e Brösel: SWORN - The Alleviation :: Rezension / Review ( Memento of the original from February 1, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , metal-district.de, accessed on June 27, 2011.
- ^ A b c baptism of blood: Sworn - The Alleviation Review , schwermetall.ch, accessed on June 27, 2011.
- ↑ a b c d Ricarda Schwoebel: Sworn (N) / The Alleviation - Review , powermetal.de accessed on June 27, 2011.
- ↑ Sworn - The Alleviation , lordsofmetal.nl, accessed on June 27, 2011 (English).
- ↑ a b c d Danny Hoff: Sworn: The Alleviation , the-pit.de, accessed on June 27, 2011.
- ↑ a b c Lars Christiansen: Review: Sworn - The Alleviation , metalcrypt.com, accessed on June 27, 2011 (English).
- ^ Daniel: Sworn , music-scan.de, accessed on June 27, 2011.
- ↑ a b Kai Brennert: Sworn in an interview (September 2007) , the-pit.de, accessed on June 27, 2011.
- ↑ SWORN , myspace.com, accessed June 27, 2011.
