Review: Svarta Havet – Månen ska lysa din väg

May 12, 2025

795

Finnish community aggression

Based in Turku, Finland, Svarta Havet formed in 2018 with their members being part of Finland’s DIY punk & hardcore scene. They all have a common connection with antifascist, feminist, trans and queer politics as well as community-first beliefs. The band’s style mixes black metal, post-hardcore and hardcore punk that was demonstrated in their debut album from 2021, Jord/Vatten. Following on from a promising debut 4 years later, they’re back with their second album titled Månen ska lysa din väg which means “the moon will light your way.”

Kicking off the album with a bang comes “Göm Dig” which goes hard and tears up the room with some neat punky beats. The mixing of black metal and post-hardcore in the band’s music is shown greatly right here. Their vocalist, Lotta, has some great black metal-style shrieking and the piano ending was a nice touch for a strong opener. Continuing the momentum is “Härlig är jorden” that demonstrates the more atmospheric approach to their sound which is very nice while still being aggressive.

While “Avgrunden” starts up slowly, once it starts picking up, it ends up being a very fun track to listen to. I really like the bouncy vibe you get instrumentally as well as drummer Jara’s blastbeats that sound brilliant here. Showing off the post-hardcore element more comes “Alla Sover,” but it still has black metal elements in the instrumental work that makes it sound very interesting and unique. Also, there’s a good amount of variety shown vocally with a well-blended mixture of atmospherics and groove instrumentally. Another good demonstration of variety comes with “Djur,” showing off more of a doom and post-metal side of things that works really well here. I really like the intro on this particular track.

Following this comes the quickfire round that is “Under Staden.” While this one is their shortest track on the album, it packs in a lot that I didn’t expect, from the aggressive intro to some nice groovier riffs later in the track. The next track “Misstag” shows off more of their blackgaze side of things in the Deafheaven vein. The guitars here have more of a chilled vibe to them at one point that I liked quite a bit. Once again, the blastbeats here are on form with this track. Månen ska lysa din väg closes off with a stormer in “Ditt Rike” that ends with their bassist having a proper fun jam which was really nice.

After a promising debut, Svarta Havet amplifies their sound even further here with their latest outing that gives you a good range of variety throughout. The range of genres includes post-hardcore, black metal, post-metal and even a little bit of doom as mentioned with “Djur.” The range is mixed really well with the intense aggression backed by the vocals and drums that fits their rage on the subjects talked about in their native language. I would recommend people give this band a shot if you’re into the likes of Oathbreaker and Deafheaven. Månen ska lysa din väg is such a well-executed step up here for the band.