Review by Vinny for Sunken - Lykke (2025)

Listening through Vemod by the now sadly defunct Solbrud earlier today, I was struck by how such rich textures could be created from such chaotic sources. With a sixteen-minute plus length track sat during the record, it is testimony to the quality on display that my attention could be held for the entire duration of the track. This incursion into Danish black metal reminded me that I was overdue another run through of the latest album from fellow Danes, Sunken. Lykke is made up of tracks that are all over the ten-minute mark, and so my earlier session with Vemod served as good training it seems.

Sunken occupy a more atmospheric space than their fellow countrymen and as a result their sound has the requisite expansiveness that one would expect from such a style. Lykke successfully combines the misery of DSBM in the vocals with the vast open spaces that get conjured from the music of WITTR. The harrowing vocal performance on ‘Og det er lykke’ that contrasts with the atmospheres of the track gives a real sense of the futility of howling into the void. Yet at the same time it is impossible to deny the comfort I find in those very same textures. In fact, the album title translates in English as “happiness”, which is one of the rarest of emotions to explore in black metal. However, Sunken do this to great success I feel. My overall experience of the record is that I find it a very uplifting experience.

The Afsky influence is there (the band shares live members with Afsky) but there is a lot more density to this record. The weight of the ocean is obvious in Sunken’s sound. This is an album of unfathomable depths that does not assume darkness to be the overarching theme to such unseen realms. Whilst melancholy is certainly one of the key themes of the sound, it is not entirely painted in noir shades. The grey instead facilitates reflection within that pensive sadness, as opposed to just blind acceptance that it is happening, regardless of often not knowing the cause. Take a moment to revel in the glory of ‘Glædesfærd’ with its slow to mid-tempo balancing the weight of this emotion perfectly.

Over the past year, I have become more interested in Danish black metal, and Lykke is one of the albums that typifies why I find it such an interesting scene. Whilst I cannot deny the size of the sound that is present, it possesses real subtlety at the same time. The immense opening of closing track ‘Når livet går på hæld’ stays with me long after the track and indeed the album has finished. This experience is common amongst the Solbrud, Afsky, Gespenst and Glemsel releases I have listened to recently, all of which leads me to believe that Denmark is a gem of a country for black metal that needs further exploration.