Album Review: Sovereign - Altered Realities
Reviewed by Matthew Williams
If you like your music a bit on the dark side of everything evil and thrashy, then the full length debut release from Oslo’s Sovereign is definitely going to whet your blood thirsty appetite. After forming in 2018, and releasing a single, demo and EP, they are back after a three year absence to unleash hell on an unsuspecting public.
With opening track 'Altered Reality' Sovereign set out their stall early doors, with a seven minute blast of what it must be like when you step into the gates of hell, as it’s a full on assault of shuddering riffs and thunderous drums. As lead guitarist Tommy Jacobsen puts it, “Altered Realities is a product of an ever-evolving journey we have taken as a band” and you can hear the influence of early Sepultura, Pestilence and Dark Angel coming through.
There’s nothing earth shatteringly different about the songs from their contemporaries, but I really love the songs on the terms of the speed and technicality, as they push themselves to play fast whilst maintaining a certain groove and dynamic. 'Futile Dreams' is an excellent example of this, and probably my favourite song on the album, as it weaves one way then the other, with super interplay between guitarists Jacobsen and his former Nocturnal band mate, Vidar Fineidet.
The lyrical themes covered on the album mirror the events and unrest that the world was suffering from at the start of the decade and they have a great approach to death/thrash metal as they can go fast and furious with songs like 'Counter Tech' with drummer Cato Syversrud dishing out the beats hard and fast, and then switch it up with a slower, more groove oriented feel to their music, evident on 'The Enigma of Intelligence', with great bass lines from vocalist Simen Roher Grong.
They finish up the seven song strong debut album with a ten minute behemoth of a song called 'Absence of Unity' which although long, doesn’t feel it and you are simply invited by the band to come along and join them on this evil rollercoaster of a ride. The whole album does this and it showcases the band extremely well, which had led to an encouraging debut for the quartet.
