Review by Saxy S for Kvaen - The Formless Fires (2024)

In a futile attempt to clean up my metal listening in 2024, December (and likely into January) is the month I will be bolstering the more extreme clans here at Metal Academy that I frequent the least (i.e. Fallen, Horde and North), so there are going to be a lot of short little blurbs about a handful of records I heard in 2024. Hopefully, I'll be able to do something a little bit more timely come 2025.

From Sweden, Kvaen is a one man melodic black metal project with pagan tendencies. This is the third album and the first to be released under publishers Metal Blade. Being one of heavy metal's most prominent record labels left me cause for some concern at first, and then I heard "Tornets sång" and it all made sense.

Sure, this might be a black metal album at its core, but you cannot listen to "Tornets sång" and tell me it does not sound like In Flames. I think that song in particular brings to light many of this records technical deficiencies. When the album has the black metal aesthetic on singles like "The Formless Fires" and "The Ancient Gods," the record sounds fantastic. When Kvaen starts to delve too heavy into those In Flames-esque melodic death tendencies, the guitar becomes too intrusive in the mix and become far too centric.

What may come as a surprise to newcomers is the thrash/speed callbacks on "Traverse the Nether" and "Basilisk" as they did with me. I know that these genres form the basis for the original black metal sounds, and I think the intensity is warranted and well executed, but on they can feel a little too spaced out as part of a full listen. Even then, calling The Formless Fires spaced out is a great misrepresentation of the album since most of the songs here feel cut short or missing a final chorus or something. Most of the album consists of fadeout endings on "The Wings of Death" and "The Formless Fires," but they never feel like they've reached the end of their statement. It makes an album that is already quite short feel even shorter.

Within The Formless Fires is a decent framework of a melodic black metal album. Good variety, strong melodic form and a mostly decent production. Compositionally, this album is desperately lacking; give a couple of these songs one final refrain and you have an excellent release. As it is, The Formless Fires has potential, but just like a fire, it loses its form after all the firewood has burnt up.

Best Songs: Traverse the Nether, The Ancient Gods, Basilisk