At the end of 2022 I picked up the second album by Dutch three piece Gavran for review. The blend of Amenra post-metal with doomier and darker touches appealed greatly to the styles of music I enjoy. Ocean of Silence offers up a stunning new Gavran track as well as the debut release from the vocalist/drummer under the guise of his solo project Svjetlost. The two tracks initially seem to clash but the more time plays out the more similarities show themselves. This is a great EP from some very talented musicians.
There is a great Dutch identity running through the two tracks as well as it was produced by Marius Prins from the excellent Throwing Bricks and artwork was provided by Joost Vervoort from the sensational black metal band Terzij de Horde. ‘Nastavi’ is billed as the result of the band’s five year collective work and is a fitting tribute to that. A best of, a summation of those years is blistering with pain, wallowing in hurt and exploding with release. It is a wondrous 8 minutes.
Further intrigue is delivered by the debut from Svjetlost with the title track. As it slowly slumbers with a far heavier doom appearance the distinctive vocals of Jamie Kobić emerge and their change from clean monastic chants to his pained screams brings the music to a quieter middle section. Whilst the song stretches further into its near 14 minute duration the doom appearance melts and floats back up between post-metal and doom seemingly ending up in a place between the two without ever treading on the ground ‘Nastavi’ had just covered.
The two tracks covering 22 minutes is a real treat and a wonderful insight into what could possibly be coming next from both of these bands. Gavran offers up some tremendous post-metal which straddles a sense of post-hardcore and doom whilst Svjetlost sounds like a very promising doom outfit. More of this please.
