AN NCS PREMIERE: SAKNA — “ALLTID”

(written by Islander)

The story behind Sakna’s forthcoming album De Syv Dødssynder, and the reasons why it is both the first and last album by this Canadian project, are fascinating (maybe even jaw-dropping, given the quality of the music) but also deeply sad. We should begin with that story.

As we’ve been told, Sakna is the solo work of Canadian multi-instrumentalist Solemn, a work that began in 2006, when Solemn was only 14 years old, as a musical adaptation of Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy. By the age of 18, he had recorded all of the album’s vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards, organs, and drums himself, drawing on such varied influences as Windir, Mournful Congregation, Emperor, Wolves In The Throne Room, Cor Scorpii, and more.

In 2011, Solemn took his own life, before anything was done to release the album other than Solemn leaking an early preview single (“Del I – Helvete”) to YouTube in 2009.

To continue the story from that tragic waypoint, we turn to Solemn‘s brother S., from the post-metal band Lunedi, who recovered the songs from old hard drives and embarked on a multi-year process with Greg Dawson at BWC Studios (Thantifaxath, Panzerfaust) to meticulously mix and remaster the music:

“I can say without exaggerating that De Syv Dødssynder is the culmination of two decades of work. Many of those years were spent on my brother’s tireless creative output. Others were spent on recovering and mixing the multitracks, on mastering by Greg Dawson at BWC Studios, and on release support by the kind folks at Hypaethral Records.

“It’s surreal to think that a musical project that my brother started at only 14 years old in 2006 will finally get a proper physical release in 2025. I only wish he could be here to see for himself how much his music means to people. The flood of genuine and kind messages from fans warm my heart in light of his passing, and I know just how much they would mean to him. De Syv Dødssynder will forever be his musical legacy, and what a legacy he has left us.”

With that remarkable story in mind, we now invite you to listen to a song named “Alltid” that’s included as a bonus track on De Syv Dødssynder, which presumably means it was not originally a part of the Divine Comedy concept. To introduce it, we’ll turn back to S. before sharing our own thoughts:

“‘Alltid’ is the only track on the extended release of De Syv Dødssynder to feature real drums, and the sonic impact is instantly apparent. While recording the main tracks in high school, Solemn was mostly limited by the equipment and recording techniques he could manage in his childhood bedroom. That wasn’t the case for ‘Alltid’: he instead recorded the drums on a real kit in a rehearsal room not far from our house. It was the final “heavy” recording he ever made – followed only by some one-off Dungeon Synth demos – and I feel very fortunate to have been in the room for the process. God only knows what he might have written with real drum recording at his disposal from the start.”

The drums do make an impact, but not at first. Instead, “Alltid” begins with a gentle overture, an acoustic-guitar melody with an ancient aura set against a mystically shimmering ambient backdrop. It creates a musing, meditative, and perhaps pastoral experience, as if reflecting the entranced thoughts of a lone figure alongside a slow woodland stream.

The overture is soon enveloped by the deep whir of low-frequency chords and the gradually swelling swirl of a vividly trilling lead-guitar. Only the drums seem steady as the music vibrantly soars and expands, seeming to channel both splendor and feverish distress. The music’s intense emotional quality could be interpreted in a different way, but the harrowing intensity of caustic shrieks pulls the interpretation in that disturbed direction.

While the song’s searing and swarming riffing persists in the background, as do those frightening screams, the ancient, wondering melody revives, and brings with it reverent singing and throbbing harmonies. Altogether, the song seems to manifest intense yearning in this phase, and the intensity overflows through blasting percussion, moaning bass lines, bursts of frenetic and fiery fretwork, and flowing waves of stratospheric elegance.

There, in the song’s penultimate passage, the music reaches an elaborately layered and thoroughly breathtaking zenith, drawing together ingredients that seem to bridge antiquity and modernity — dignified, refined, and majestically noble but also blazing and fierce.

At the end, Sakna briefly returns the listener to the gently contemplative sonic setting with which the song began, but we guess it will take longer than that for listeners to come down from the music’s previous heights.

All music and instruments on De Syv Dødssynder were written and recorded by Solemn, mixed by S. (Lunedi), and mastered by Greg Dawson.

Hypaethral Records will release De Syv Dødssynder on October 31st on CD (Ltd. 300) and digitally, as well as vinyl in the following color variants: Inferno 2xLP (Ltd. 100), Black 2xLP (Ltd. 200). Find pre-order info via the link below, and also lend your ears to the first song disclosed from the album, Sakna‘s cover of the Windir song “Sóknardalr” — about which S. has said this:

“The influence of Windir and Sognametal on SAKNA’s sound is palpable and immediately discernible. And yet, this cover of Windir’s classic ‘Sóknardalr’ perfectly encapsulates how SAKNA developed its own unique artistic voice, distinct from its source material but still true to its roots. This doom-laden rendition, complete with ornate orchestral flourishes and crushing down-tuned rhythm guitars, displays the wide breadth of sonic influences that make up Solemn’s intricate arrangements. I would hope that, if Valfar was here today (rest his soul), that he would approve of such an epic and heavy interpretation of his composition.”

PRE-ORDER:
https://hypaethralrecords.bandcamp.com/album/de-syv-d-dssynder