Svoid – Neptunian
Svoid – Neptunian
Sun and Moon Records
Release Date: 11/03/24
Running Time: 41:3
Review by Dark Juan
8/10
Good afternoon, my very special chums all over the world. I am Dark Juan, and I am normally vigorous, puissant, and commanding. Normally, nubile, beautiful young ladies in all manner of charming deshabille would prostrate themselves at my feet in order to be chosen for my august attentions, menfolk thrusting their children in front of me in order for them to be blessed and kissed by my eminent and revered presence, or offering me the free use of their wives in a bizarre reversal of droit de seigneur…
Today I am not.
Today, I am a shivering, miserable bastard hunched double over this computer struggling to breathe and as weak as a day-old kitten. I had to rest for half an hour after moving my computer from behind the television (a very under-utilised device in the house of Dark Juan, who wants fuck all to do with the idiot’s lantern apart from Formula 1 unless Verstappen or Hamilton are winning everything and then I just don’t care) and I am wrapped in my oodie like a swaddled child feeling very sorry for myself. I have a chest infection, you see, and I am finding it difficult to breathe and sleep so I have broken my own rules and been mainlining coffee in significant quantities (to the detriment of Mrs Dark Juan, who once stuck a double espresso in my mocha once and then had to endure a two-hour, one-way conversation about the Bristol Centaurus radial aircraft engine. She never did it again) but this makes Dark Juan hyperactive and a bit spasmodic and jerky. Hence, I am in front of the pooter, and after my rest, I went and fetched the Platter Of Splatter ™, resplendent in flawless matt black with red pinstriping, and slung a new album for sacrifice upon it. Today’s victims are Hungarian Post Punk/ Death Rockers (it sez ere) Svoid. Let us go on a musical journey together. Take my hand…
So, when ‘Neptunian Genesis’ opens proceedings on this third long player, Dark Juan was expecting the kind of sensuous, deeply disturbingly sexy music that Goths and Post Punks play. Svoid are not like that, so disabuse yourself of the notion that you’ll be trapping off with any Goth girls in their candlelit bedrooms with this album as the soundtrack. Svoid’s sound is rather harder edged than the usual when anything Goffik is mentioned. Neither are they particularly Deathrocky. Instead, Dark Juan would offer his opinion that they play a very outre and peculiar kind of bizarre, romantic, slowed down Gothic Black Metal that owes more to The Damned and Bauhaus than it does to Impaled Nazarene or Green Carnation. There are times when the Post Punk does shine through (‘Samvega-Nekkhamma’ on the chorus) but the majority of the time S’s throat-savaging, primal Black Metal yowl is the main vocal line and the band also utilise very Black Metal sounding guitars, not unlike the tone employed by Dimmu Borgir when they were being all operatic and arty on “Death Cult Armageddon”, although employed on Post Punk arrangements. Which makes for a very strange listening experience. For example, ‘Twilight Draws Nigh’ is a full-on Goff tune with the guitar sound from Satyricon’s ‘K.I.N.G.’ and the vocals from any early Lord Belial album you would care to choose. Being as Dark Juan is a Sad Old Goff ™ and is therefore culturally primed to expect a leather and shades-clad, skinny and pale rock god oozing left-field sexiness and crooning in a baritone or bass voice, it took a bit of listening readjustment to hear beyond S’s screaming and growling and to acclimatize myself to Svoid’s sound.
Unsurprisingly, Svoid have their roots in Black Metal. I fucking knew it before I read the blurb. However, it appears the guys in the band then raided the record collection of an Elder, because they discovered Siouxsie and The Banshees and the Chameleons, and U2.
Svoid’s music varies from tunes that sound like proper Goth tunes covered by a Black Metal band, to Goth bands covering Black Metal tunes – quite a lot of their music on this album sounds like the more atmospheric moments of late career Emperor when they are off exploring little hinterlands of melody, except they have made entire songs from them instead of vignettes and movements. S’s voice might also be a turn off for some folk, as old school BM snarling (as good as he is at it) frequently could jar the new listener away from the music, and that would be bad news as Svoid are good. They are able to effortlessly create soundscapes that evoke icy heartbreak, bitter emptiness or Demonic possession with ease. They are able to emote in their music in the same way that Lacuna Coil can, but raping your own throat vocally frequently ruins the magic somewhat, and it is the opinion of Dark Juan that a more mellow, accessible vocal would work better with the interesting and idiosyncratic music Svoid are creating. However, it is this dichotomy between heartbroken Post Punk and Black Metal savagery that makes Svoid interesting to Dark Juan, because let’s face it – Pete Steele cornered the rumbling bass vocal Goth girl belly-trembling market and there will be no-one else to touch him ever…
To sum up then – “Neptunian” is a really enjoyable listen once you have managed your expectations. The lead vocals might prove too challenging for some, but hopefully, if you can get past them, the music is fucking ace, friends, although it all gets a bit out of control on ‘Black Hole District’, which ends up a bit gigglesome when vocals are stretched past limits on the chorus and the kitchen sink and everything delivery of the song all gets a bit melodramatic and makes the band sound like they enjoy a bit of musical theatre. Otherwise, a fine recording.
The Patented Dark Juan Blood Splat Rating System (A szabadalmaztatott Dark Juan vérfröccs minősítő rendszer, remélhetőleg újonnan talált és meglévő magyar barátaimnak) awards Svoid 8/10 for a record that is something of a flawed jewel – the lead vocal is an acquired taste, the clean singing strains to hit the right note sometimes at the upper range, and some people might find Satyr’s vocals, Dimmu Borgir’s guitar sound and The Damned’s lyrics all combined a little too much to stomach. Dark Juan likes this band a lot though.
TRACKLISTING:
01. Neptunian Genesis
02. Light Years From Now
03. Samvega – Nekkhamma
04. Twilight Draws Nigh
05. The Shell
06. All Torn Apart
07. In Sacred Magic
08. Clavicula Nox
09. Moonwise Journey
10. Black Hole District
11. Infinity Of The Elements
LINE-UP:
Gravel Shores – Guitars, vocals
S – Bass, main vocals
LINKS:
Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Dark Juan and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of said party. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
