In honor of its one-year anniversary, Hypaethral Records is pleased to unveil the cassette edition of SAKNA’s lost De Syv Dødssynder full-length.
SAKNA, a one-man band shrouded in mystery since its inception in 2006, is a bastion of the post-second wave of black metal ethos, championing a period where the musicality of black metal overtook the antics of its forefathers. Conceived by the late Canadian multi-instrumentalist Solemn, the project espouses a sound that has been dubbed “a natural extension of Windir;” a seamless fusion of epic Sognametal with emotive atmospheric black metal, DSBM, funeral doom, neo-folk, and dark ambient.
After nearly two decades in relative obscurity, Solemn’s brother S. of post-metal band Lunedi has lifted the curtain on his sibling’s genius, unveiling a plethora of songs that lay hidden from the world for years on old hard drives. With several more years dedicated to the recovery, meticulous mixing, and remastering of the music by Greg Dawson at BWC Studios (Thantifaxath, Panzerfaust), De Syv Dødssynder – SAKNA’s masterpiece and sole full-length album – is finally getting a physical release.
Inspired by Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy, Solemn began writing and recording De Syv Dødssynder as its musical adaptation in 2006 at the young age of 14 years old. By the age of 18, he had recorded all of the album’s vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards, organs, and drums himself, even leaking an early preview of the single “Del I – Helvete” to YouTube in 2009 which earned SAKNA underground notoriety in black metal circles. His magnum opus drew on such varied influences as Windir, Mournful Congregation, Emperor, Wolves In The Throne Room, Cor Scorpii. and more.
Despite such a promising musical career ahead of him, Solemn tragically took his own life in 2011, halting the hopes of his brilliance reaching the masses. De Syv Dødssynder and its bonus tracks remain his legacy. Like a time capsule, they offer a glimpse into one of the most artistically intricate forgotten gems of black metal’s infamous history.
All music and instruments on De Syv Dødssynder were written and recorded by Solemn, mixed by S. (Lunedi), and mastered by Greg Dawson.
The cassette edition of De Syv Dødssynder is limited to 100 copies.
Find orders at the Hypaethral webshop HERE and Bandcamp HERE.
De Syv Dødssynder Track Listing:
- Begynnelse – Sti
- Del I – Helvete
- Del II – Skjærsilden
- Del III – Himmel
- Evighet
- Alltid
- Sóknardalr (Windir Cover)
- Berceuse Astrale
“… dramatic, meticulously composed, and arranged, blazingly aggressive where it needs to be, De Syv Dødssynder (‘The Seven Deadly Sins’), is everything that’s great about second wave black metal… It has that second wave charm to it, massively dedicated to the spirit of heavy metal but also wildly influenced by other palettes… Windir, Emperor, and more. The folk elements are expertly placed and thought out, much more than tacked on guitars, and the gorgeous organs just bring everything together, highlighting the operatic melodrama of it all. Elsewhere there are sprawling epics well above the ten minutes mark, crushingly beautiful acoustic passages, and more frost-bitten, anguishing screams than you’ll know what to do with…” – Heavy Blog Is Heavy
“If you crave Atmospheric Black Metal that actually goes somewhere for most of its runtime, Sakna offers a time capsule to when Dissection-inspired melodies still shaped the genre…” – Metal Eclipse
“If you are a fan of emotional black metal then there is a great deal here to take in, on many levels.” – House Of Prog
“Let us NOT only connect this record with sadness and sorrow but also with talent and triumph. Yes, triumph, for anybody who was able to compose such flawless songs surely overcame many obstacles. The sheer potential of this record and these songs, to become one of the top 10 lonely-island-records must have been one of the reasons that S. and Greg kept on pounding until the record was finished. For Solemn, for us, for S.” – Veil Of Sound
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