Sweeping rays of dubious hope drown in Sojourner’s third album Premonitions. Their first under the Napalm banner, epic black metal is the name of the game with glimmers of folk, gloomy piano passages, and soul-churning vocals. Adventurous and steeped with an epic background, listeners will be reminded of Summoning and at times Moonsorrow.

Largely atmospheric, there’s an interesting dichotomy between the elegant, beautiful vocals from Chloe Bray and the barbaric, blackness of Emilio Crespo. It’s all on display in opener “The Monolith” with Bray being the shining light on a piano led brewing storm that grows into thundering guitars and melds into a diabolically crafted melodic black metal brew. The flute makes its way into “Eulogy For The Lost” and Sojourner lets the piano breathe endlessly with enchanting passages as it’s clear this music could fit perfectly in video games like Skyrim or The Witcher. Entrenched with themes dealing with nature and fantasy, I can picture these sounds as the backdrop of a warrior navigating vast lands while being thrust into a myriad of vicious battles. The ethereal ballad “Talas” serves a respite from the grandiose soundscape and thus gives way to the subdued “Fatal Frame” which again lets the piano lead the way, which then passes the baton to the roaring guitars. The leads featured here are emblematic of the album – melodic, full of emotion, and very engaging. The most upbeat of the bunch is “The Deluge”, opening with a synth and features a gallop-like pace and the vocal tradeoff between Crespo and Bray is done brilliantly and should prove to be a live favorite. Sojourner has more in their bag of tricks though as “The Event Horizon” features an airy presence within the futuristic sounding keyboards and the melancholic rhythms take over a landscape that paints a desolate picture.

A chilling to way to the end the album, but as a whole Sojourner presents an epic beast of a record as they continue to climb up the ranks of epic black metal.