(On October 30th Ardua Music will release Heirloom, the third album by the Florida melodic doom/death metal band Somnent. Two weeks ago we presented Daniel Barkasi’s very good interview of the band’s founder Giovanni A. Vigliotti, and today we’re premiering a full stream of the entire album — preceded by Dan’s review.)
Within the halls of the doom genre, it’s not as easy to stand out and grab attention as it is in more bombastic styles such as death, thrash, and black metal. The best acts all contain significant depth in their music, emotively and within the often layered and complex compositions. Mother of Graves has accomplished this, and no doubt will continue to do so, along with Fires in the Distance, Tribunal, and a couple of others.
Today, we want to discuss Somnent, a band who no doubt currently has an underground following, but is on the precipice of something more. You can feel the hunger in their live performances, as well as within the steady progression of their music with each subsequent release. If you haven’t yet, check out our interview to learn more about the project’s origins and its creator and songwriter, Giovanni A. Vigliotti, which partners well with this review and full streaming premiere of the album.
The Eventide EP served as a fine introduction – rough around the edges, coarse, and furious. A sense of refinement entered with full-lengths Sojourn and Gardens from Graves, with the latter representing the band’s most altogether memorable material thus far. Comparatively, there’s plenty of the melancholy and melody of Swallow the Sun and the dire, mournful ethos of My Dying Bride present, along with Vigliotti’s own distinctive creative purview that makes his creations fresh. All of those roads lead us to Heirloom, with a label change in tow, all combining to possibly being the next logical movement to propel their music further.
Heirloom manages to build upon what has been a varied discography, with the more mellow, cleaner musings that permeated Gardens from Graves along with the harsher, stinging elements from Sojourn. The resulting effort surfaces the most poignant, flowing, and complete songwriting that Vigliotti has mustered thus far.
Minimalistic pianos and dazzling vocals provided by guest singer Natalia Drepina set an incredibly somber tone on intro track “A Voice of Inner Child” to lead into the heart-wrenching “Throne Aflame”, a track that invokes the desperate feeling of “Your River” from My Dying Bride’s legendary Turn Loose the Swans. The orchestrations combined with Vigliotti’s soothing clean voicings, disquieting and sullen, set up for when the song takes off at the 4:22 mark with what feels like a moment of realization lyrically and sonically. At this juncture, Somnent has grabbed the listener by the scruff of the neck, demanding their full and undivided attention.
“Severed Ties” follows, spewing a phenomenal contrast of massive, roaring rhythm guitars and an atmosphere seeping with strife. Vigliotti’s booming roar is more pronounced and burly on Heirloom, being a major piece that gives Somnent and this record the maligned ferociousness that’s essential in diversifying from the more airy, dismal passages. That intuitive yin and yang have never been so in tune.
Malevolence is abundant whilst also expressing imitable sorrow in the tense, frightening “King of Ruin” and the crunching, heaving “Where Silence Dwells” – the latter being a personal standout, hitting just right on every twist and turn, piercing like a dagger to the chest. “As You’ve Sown” is another punchy, monolithic entry that conveys a similar aura, laced with acrimony and grief.
Conversely, the mournful, forlorn feel of the captivating “Barren Mother” strikes a differing, regret-filled tone, showing the numerous capable sides the project possesses. Finale “The Feeding Hand” leaves a last dent into the listener’s brain, embracing a steady build from start to finish that concludes with an eruption of all of the many agonizing feelings represented throughout.
We do have to mention the rhythmic duo of bassist Shane Dohmen and drummer Alejandro Acuña – their obvious chemistry brings plenty to the overall execution of Heirloom, each providing a hearty chunk of themselves that gives the record the directive pacing and low end required. Having been a fixture in the live lineup for some time, they’ve now both assuredly made their mark in the studio. Additionally, the production does a fine job of allowing the album to breathe when it needs to, and to pulverize when the moment calls for it. Somnent have yet to sound this consistently powerful in the past, ultimately making the songs here that much more impactful.
Heirloom comes across as an incredibly personal narrative; these feelings are raw and consuming, giving the album plenty of both repeatability and authenticity. We find many of these tracks sticking in our head long after the album has finished, giving a thirst to keep returning to discover more fine points that we may not have heard the time before. Without question, Heirloom is Somnent’s most focused, rousing, and immense release, an effort that may very well be an important landmark in raising their profile in the vast sea of doom. Light a candle or two and let this one take you away.
And now we’ll share all the music with you, after this parting word from Gio Vigliotti:
“I wanted to create something that not only gave shape to grief and inherited suffering, but that also resonated with those who might still be learning to live with what they have endured. I think what sets Heirloom apart from Somnent’s previous works, was the focus and intent put behind it. From the subject matter to the songwriting structure, each passage was carefully chosen to fit the desired delivery, because ultimately, music is a form of communication. So hopefully when a listener sits down with either the album as a whole, or just a single track, they will be able to follow Heirloom to its intended destination, while maybe even finding something within themselves along the way.”
PRE-ORDER:
https://www.arduamusic.com/
https://arduamusic.bandcamp.com/album/heirloom
SOMNENT:
https://www.facebook.com/somnent
https://www.instagram.com/somnent_official
https://somnent.bandcamp.com