Flight of Sleipnir, The - Skadi (2017)^{Release ID: 9872}

The Flight of Sleipnir's 2017 album, Skadi, is one of contrasting sounds, not merely concentrating on the heavy, doomier side of things. Opener, Awaken, starts off heavily enough, but then changes pace with a nice, mellow, clean-vocal section before kicking down the door again. Second track, completing side one, Tenebrous Haze is the only unrelentingly metal track, complete with mighty riffs and harsh vocals. Side two opens with Earthen Shroud, the first half of which is a laidback psychedelic number, reminiscent of bands like Procul Harum, but steadily the track builds up to a crescendo, fired by anticipation. Voices is, ironically, a pastoral, acoustic instrumental number, that projects an air of quiet calm before best track Falcon White closes out the album in epic style. Unusually for a doom outfit, this has quite an uplifting tone and is one of the most positive-sounding doom albums I've ever heard.