Sojourner begins its new era with Perennial, a two song EP.
After three albums, Mike Lamb (guitar/keyboards, Lysithea, ex-Cailleach), Emilio Crespo (vocals, ex-Historian, ex-Nangilima) and Riccardo Floridia (drums, Atlas Pain) had to face the departure of two members. But Scotty Lodge (bass, Light Field Reverie), Tom O’Dell (guitar, Dwarrowdelf, Gimli, Son of Glóin) and Lucia Amelia Emmanueli (vocals, Trewa) came to strengthen the ranks of the international band.
Perrenial is the first of the two song EP. Keyboard and flute slowly open us the gates of this epic melancholy, that will be quickly joined by seizing violence. We discover the new singer’s voice, contrasting with howlings and unveiling this new duality the band cultivates. The two parts turn around each other before riding together for an oniric part, that let place to Relics of the Natural Realm, a song that undoubtedly reminds us of Heritage of the Natural Realm, the band’s very first track, while offering a more modern mixing. Keyboards display a majestic basis for the singer to show us her remarkable vocal abilities and enchanting us, then the full band comes to burden this melancholy before the sound ends in the void.
With this EP, Sojourner proves the band is still active, and determined to embellish melancholy. Perennial is very short, but it will appease the fans and makes us wait before their next album.
90/100