Shaam Larein - Stick En Kniv I Världen

Shaam Larein - Stock En Kniv I Världen

3.5

Rating

3.5/5

Flyctory.com Pros

Unique and characteristic sound
Some really well-written and structured tracks.

Flyctory.com Cons

No constant quality over the six songs
Some songs need a more precise plot

The music of Shaam Larein is somewhere between post punk, doom metal and gothic rock. On 9th December 2022, the Swedish band is releasing their sophomore album, Stick En Kniv I Världen, which means “Stick a knife into the world”. I had a listen.

Shaam Larein – About The Artists

Shaam Larein is in fact also the name of the lead vocalist of the Swedish band, which released their first album Sculpture in 2020. Other band members are Elmar Hallby, Johan Borgströn, Linnea Hjerten, Mille Hökengren and Nathalie Ahlbom. Unfortunately, I could not find too much additional information about the band

Shaam Larein – Stock En Kniv I Världen – Track by Track

The eight track album lasts 38 minutes.

1. Sticka En Kniv I Världen

The title track is opening for this album. A song like dark, mysterious cloud hanging over a ghost town. Sharam Larein’s voice feels very intense in here, the guitars feel to cry with her. Great listen.

2. Flesh of Gold

The four minute track Flesh of Gold comes with a nice bass groove in the background. Again, there is a dramatic, thrilling touch in the song, which alters between rather quiet and very intense moments. Flesh of Gold nonetheless feels a bit weaker than the opener to me.

3. Beware the Duchess

The main guitar theme is an up and down wave of chords in different variants of intensity. Unfortunately, this sound bothers me quite significantly during the listen. Bad luck, the vocal qualities of the lead singer and the dramatic plot of the song have quite some potential.

4. I Have No Face

The album comes with quite a wide span of song durations. While two of the six tracks exceed six minutes, I Have No Face just goes for 2:41 minutes. Despite that, the song is definitely leaving a mark on the album. Especially the middle part is a nice statement. The coda still rather feels a bit long an monotonous.

5. Murderer

The Murderer is not only the feature single, it is also the longest song of the album. I would have opted for this song to be shared first as well. It is a nice theatric listen. The goth character is a bit smaller than in other songs of the album. The most intense sections of the song is almost a bit of psychedelic.

6. Caress My Thoughts

Larein’s voice at the beginning of the song reminds me of Zombie by The Cranberries – but Caress My Thoughts is defining its own sound soon. Not a bad one with nice breaks – but a bit on the lengthy side to me.

7. Leave Me Here To Die

Leave Me Here To Die is just above three minutes, but it presents a lot of very own ideas. The opening gives a strong goth touch and could almost be a dark song of the typical Gregorian chant songs. Later, the track adds a strong flavor of folk and world music. Great atmosphere and one of the best songs of the album to me.

8. Massacre

The Scandinavians close their sophomore album with a Massacre. The song illustrates that there is a lot of potential in the band – Stock En Kniv I Världen is definitely closing with one of its finest songs, which is having very quiet moments as well al rocking, dark ones. Lovely listen.

Shaam Larein – Stock En Kniv I Världen – Spotify

Here is the album on Spotify:

Shaam Larein – Stock En Kniv I Världen – My View

Bad luck – to me the quality of the songs is not yet constant enough. Nonetheless, Shaam Larein and her band shows their great potential and also definitely more good moments than disappointing ones. Nonetheless, I expect their next release to be better.