Продолжая тему распавшихся или находящихся в подвешенном состоянии, но не теряющих при этом своего очарования групп, представляю Savn — коллектив, возникший на обломках The Sins of Thy Beloved, о которых я рассказывал в прошлый раз. Ударник Stig Johansen собрал новую группу, которая, увы, ограничилась одним полноформатным альбомом Savn в 2014 году и несколькими синглами в 2018. Однако, примечательно, что в группе поёт сестра самой Liv Kristine (Theatre of Tragedy, Leaves’ Eyes), неплохая вокалистка Carmen Elise Espenæs, которая вместе с сестрой участвует ещё в более живучем проекте Midnattsol. Альбом получился замечательным, да и сестра поучаствовала в треке I am Free. Группа, вроде, судя по фэйсбуку, была ещё живая, по крайней мере, этой весной, подождём, может, чего ещё услышим. Savn сейчас — Carmen Elise Espenæs — вокал, Øyvind Lende — гитары, клавишные, Jan Cato Traa — ударные. Стиль — симфо и фолк металл.
Norwegian goth metal legends The Sins Of Thy Beloved have been dormant since 2000 — following the release of their second album Perpetual Desolation — and after years of a rumoured reunion, Stig Johansen and Anders Thue have instead risen from the ashes with a new band, Savn, and a new vision.
The seeds for Savn (translated: Deprivation) officially took root when multi-instrumentalist Stig contacted Midnattsol vocalist and long-time friend Carmen Elise Espenæs about singing one song for the planned album. She agreed, and he and Anders (keyboards) were so pleased with the final result they invited Carmen to sing on the entire record. With Midnattsol rendered inactive for the time being due to personal commitments within the band, and her new role as a stay-at-home mother, she found herself with enough time to take part in a new musical journey.
«In the beginning they just wanted me here and there in parts of the songs,» Carmen reveals, «but I became more and more involved as we worked. There were some parts that I asked if we could change them because I had a chorus or melody line that needed to be in there. They decided that it would be best to say that I’m part of the band. I loved the music when I first heard it, and working with them in the studio was a great experience.»
Savn is uncharted territory for the trio in that the music is unlike anything created by The Sins Of The Beloved or Midnattsol. There are obvious goth influences within the music — very reminiscent of Theatre Of Tragedy in places (‘The Demons In Me’, ‘Now Or Never’) — and prominent folk elements (‘Musical Silence’, ‘All I Want’, ‘I Am Free’) , but it’s also surprisingly rock-oriented and can’t be pigeonholed as «typical» goth rock. The music is warm and upbeat even when the lyrical concepts are not.
Carmen was given complete creative freedom, including re-writing existing lyrics to suit her own ideas of what the songs should sound like. The trio also wrote some songs as a group.
«It’s fantastic,» Carmen says of exploring new musical territory with Savn. «I feel it brings me back to who I am. If I go for a really long time not making music I lose something of myself. Getting into doing Savn really makes me feel alive. And I have absolutely no clue why, but all the ideas for the song melodies came so fast. I have to say I’ve never been so satisfied when making a new album, and I think the vocal melodies on this one are the best I’ve ever done. They’re catchier, I think, probably because the song structures are simpler so that people will want to song along and listen to the songs over and over.»
Savn’s debut, recorded and produced by Alex Krull (Atrocity, Leaves’ Eyes) at Mastersound Studios in Germany, features several guest performers. Carmen’s sister Liv Kristine (Leaves’ Eyes) appears on ‘I Am Free’, while Michelle Darkness (End Of Green) turns up on ‘The Demons In Me’. On the musical side, fiddle players Dag Bjørkedal and Lillian Hodne play a large part in rounding out the Savn sound. And, additional strings were provided by the famed Lingua Mortis Orchestra on ‘Sorrowful’ and ‘Lengselens Hånd’, directed and recorded by composer and Rage guitarist Victor Smolski.
