1/2 Southern North unveils its debut album.
Created in 2013 by Ifigeneia « IDVex » Derizioti (all instruments/vocals) in Greece, the project releases a few demos and splits before announcing Narrations of a Fallen Soul, on Les Acteurs de l’Ombre Productions and Satanath Records in 2022.
The musician is accompanied by Philippos Lyrintzis (drums), George Kastanos (saxophone), Efraimia Giannakopoulou (violin), Dimitris Soureas (davul), Stavros Panagiotopoulos (kaval), Malena Pereske (dahare) and Polytimi Noea (vocals).
The album starts with the haunting Alpha Sophia, a dark and very heavy composition that lets the dissonance and the voice of the project’s head take the main role. The vocal parts are as intense as they are terrifying, and the slow pace of the rhythm gives them an extra power, just like on Hearts of Hades where the traditional instruments give the track a different mystical dimension than the first track. The use of Ancient Greek also brings a special atmosphere, which continues when English is used, but the pure darkness resurfaces with Breastfeed Your Delightful Sorrow and its haunting slowness. The track is quite melodic while remaining anchored in this dissonant Doom/Black base topped by mysterious vocal parts, which feed those strong Folk roots while revealing their own tonalities which drive us to Elegy of Hecate and its mysterious slowness. The track knows how to stay soft and dark, but it will also offer a blast part and Prog oriented elements to feed an interesting contrast before Narrations of a Fallen Soul takes over to present its melancholy. The sound will take different directions, but it remains quite fluid, and it leads us to the very long Remnants of Time, which allows the musician to present us sounds borrowed from other styles, especially with this saxophone and this throbbing rhythmic. Although very slow, the piece remains anchored in these Blues/Jazz influences, then the group comes to close the album with Song to Hall Up High, a cover of the legendary Bathory. The tempo is obviously slowed down, but the atmosphere remains the same. Acoustic elements are swapped for airy and heavy ones, but the lyrics still resonate in our minds until the last moment.
You probably don’t know about 1/2 Southern North, but its heavy atmosphere will seduce you. Between Doom, Black and Folk elements, Narrations of a Fallen Soul draws us a portrait of an oppressive and mysterious melancholy that we can only adore.
85/100
