Release Date: April 17th 2024. Record Label: Karhuvaltio Records. Formats: CD/DD
The Wild Inevitable - Tracklisting
The Perfect Undesirable (3:48)
Angel Raised Wolves (6:23)
Classic Romantic Dramatic (5:26)
Terminal Eclipse Of The Heart (4:32)
Horizontal Loops (3:35)
Adjacent (5:57)
The Heat Burns The Grief (4:45)
Members
Jan Trygg - vocals, guitars, synths
Timo Niskala - drums, ambients, synths
Tapani Levanto - bass
Review
Alternative/Doom/Sludge Rockers Slowneya return with their new album The Wild Inevitable and it’s a major leap forward for the band compared to their previous albums with 2021’s Somer and 2022’s Meadow. This album has a deep emotional connection to other areas of music such as Post Punk, Electronica, Psych Rock and Rock.
Their industrially charged take on Alt Metal, Doom Metal and Sludge Metal is still intact with The Wild Inevitable but there’s a more experimental sound starting to emerge with influences as diverse as NIN, Deftones, Neurosis, Killing Joke, Godflesh, Depeche Mode and SWANS appearing through the cracks of their catchy instrumental movements.
Slowenya are wonderfully diverse with the music being firmly rooted in the 1980’s Alt Rock and Post Punk scenes with a vicious Doom/Sludge Metal appetite allowing the band to deliver a highly original blend of Post-Doom grooves that does feel quite surreal. The surrealistic edge appears mostly through the lyrics and Jan’s vocals which remind me of Dave Gahan all the way through the album. There’s some brutally harsh vocals that come into play on the excellent third track Classic Romantic Dramatic courtesy of Jori Saloranta which propels the album into pure SWANS nightmarish territory.
However, the two opening tracks of The Perfect Undesirable and Angel Raised Wolves sees Slowenya generate Psychedelic and Ambient textures within their familiar style of Doom/Sludge Rock which has a haunting Post-Rock and Shoegaze quality. This style of music becomes more dominant and abstract on the later stages of the album which sees Slowenya weave different heavier sounds into the overall creative themes of the album.
Slowenya do play epic instrumental passages that are beautifully reminiscent of the 1980’s New Wave scene but there’s a sense of distorted heaviness within the record even when the quieter moments fully take effect. The record’s more heartfelt moments appear within tracks such as Terminal Eclipse Of The Heart, Adjacent and The Heat Burns The Grief.
The beautifully eccentric fifth track Horizontal Loops is full of intense loops, noise effects and industrial guitars which sees Jan’s vocals become quite hopeful before the music changes into a destructive mix of Post-Metal, Noise Rock and Atmospheric Doom with added HARSH soundscapes to put a different flow into the album.
The Wild Inevitable is quite a vivid and deceptive album with Slowenya delivering a uniquely different sounding Doom/Sludge Metal album that even I didn’t expect. The record takes many creative risks that ultimately pay off with huge rewards waiting for the listener if they last the journey.
The record only lasts forty minutes but feels longer thanks to the different styles of music they create on this album alone. The production is quite frantic but ultimately sounds superb with Slowenya playing a ton of heavy experimental grooves from start to finish.
Slowenya are building an exciting reputation for themselves with each passing release and The Wild Inevitable being no exception. This is their most technically impressive and outstanding record to date. The Wild Inevitable has the potential to be considered as a future “Album Of The Year” contender before the year is out.
Words by Steve Howe
Thanks to Slowenya for the promo.
The Wild Inevitable will be available to buy from Karhuvaltio Records from Wednesday April 17th 2024.
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