Time Signature
This is it...
Genre: southern/sludge metal
If you hear the name 'Svölk' and think that you are dealing with a Swedish folk metal band, you will be forgiven, but you will also be wrong, because Svölk is a Norwegian hard rock band who draw extensively on groovy southern rock and traditional heavy metal (with particular reference to NWoBHM's use of twin guitars). In other words, we are dealing with a band who really capture the essence of all that is rock and convey it brilliantly through a retro type of metal that also looks ahead.
While tracks like '52', 'Miss Alcohol', 'End of Days', Time fo the Dying', and 'Overload' are heavy and groovy tracks full of southern groove and attitude (but also with elements from more modern types of metal and hard rock), 'This Is It' is uptempo and has an almost thrashy feel to it, combining Pantera-esque riffage with 80s British rock twin guitars, and 'Anchor', 'Inferno' and '12 Times the Pain" are crushing midtempo metal tracks with lots of attitude, melody and, most importantly, classic metal riffage that would make the likes of Judas Priest and Accept proud. Adding further to the sense of variation, 'Sweet Agony' is based on a Led-Zep-on-steroids type of riff, which is is sprinkled with metal attitude, and 'Dead:30' and 'Warm Within' are uptempo classic metal tracks that rival similar tracks of the British metal legends of the past.
The musicianship is top notch and, along with the heavy-rock-as-f*ck vocals, the performance bu the musicians oozes classic rock authenticity although this is a 2011-release. While the overall performance and songwriting is generally strong, what sold me was the use of twin guitars and its reference to NWoBHM.
"Svölk 'em All" is and authentic and well-wrought modern heavy rock album which should appeal broadly to fans of stoner metal, sludge metal, heavy rock, southern rock, traditional metal and NWoBHM alike.
(review originally posted at seaoftranquility.org)