Style: Stoner metal, progressive metal (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Mastodon, Elder, Baroness
Country: Sweden
Release date: 25 October 2024
Swedish stoner band Vokonis found their way into my life in 2021 during a large period of change: I had just moved to a new city to start a new job and would ride my new moped around its hell streets, listening to new-to-me albums like 2021’s Odyssey. As a total dork for stoner metal, I was immediately taken by their Mastodon-isms and the extended jam that concludes closer “Through the Depths,” culminating in a grand riff repeated and slowed down ad nauseam. Three years brings many changes, though: I went from totally single to having a wonderful husband, which I thought would never happen; I am losing someone very important to me due to medical issues outside of anyone’s control; and in this period I’ve fully come to terms with myself as an autistic person. Three years has seen changes to Vokonis as well, both in and among its members, as this is their first full-length featuring new bassist Oscar Johannesson and their first full-length since guitarist and vocalist Simona Ohlsson came out as trans. Therefore, it is natural that themes of transition and change permeate latest release Transitions: will they take this change in stride or does Transitions show growing pains?
Vokonis brandish a heavy and psychedelic style of stoner metal, cementing tracks with fuzzy and chunky riffs content to thrash along in 3/4 time underneath rumbling bass and half-shouted clean vocals. Transitions retains much of this style in its earlier half, as tracks like “Phantom Carriage” and “Pink Fang” throw their weight around with reckless abandon, recalling tracks like “Blackened Wings” or “Azure” from Odyssey. Opener “Deadname” shows a subtle change in sound, maintaining a stoner core but gently tweaking its parameters through spacey atmospherics and staccato verses, cautiously extending its tendrils and testing out new ideas while the whole remains safely in place. The most obvious change in these first tracks, though, is the vocals: Simona Ohlsson spent much time practicing her technique and refining her delivery, eschewing the almost brutish shout-singing for a much more controlled and polished approach that at times sounds like a completely different singer. These changes extend to the harsh vocals as well, coming across at times a hoary rasp instead of the quasi-shrieks found across Odyssey.
Musically, Transitions’ biggest changes don’t appear until the behemoth closing tracks, “Arrival” and “Transitions.” “Arrival” is uncharacteristically hypnotic and groovy, establishing and iterating on a floaty atmosphere as Simona’s ethereal vocal lines glide across heavy riffage for upwards of eleven minutes, introducing deviations from the established ideas in its latter half along with some increased momentum at just the right time, showing Vokonis taking some risks with songwriting to great payoff. Beginning with oppressively heavy drum-bass interplay, “Transitions” takes a hard left turn halfway through as the track fully drops out into solo bass exploration before slowly rebuilding itself around the bass. Quiet and contemplative sections were the last thing I was expecting from Vokonis, and while the execution in rebuilding the track around a solitary bass line is clever, it goes on a little too long for my tastes and isn’t as successful as “Arrival” in the end.
Growing pains aren’t restricted to the closer, either. While there is a clear improvement in Simona’s vocal performance, demonstrating improved technique and polish, I am missing some of the raw energy and conviction that came with the less-polished vocals on Transitions: the introductory verses of “Deadname,” the chorus of “Phantom Carriage,” and the middle section of “Arrival” are held back by weaker vocal moments, as when Vokonis go quieter and more subdued in their songwriting, the music doesn’t support Simona’s new vocal technique quite as well. However, for every one of Transitions’ fumbles, there are plenty of standout concepts for the listener to sink their pink fangs into, whether it be the “Stay with me / Reverie” refrain of opener “Deadname” which shows that Simona can throw around her new vocal style with power; the crushing breakdowns on “Chrysalis”1 demonstrating Vokonis’s ability to balance groove and heaviness; or the powerful soloing on “Phantom Carriage” that makes for one of Transitions’ most compelling moments. On top of that, the bass is always a delight, from the crunchy buzz that peeks its head through staccato riffage on “Deadname” or the quick and tasty bass solo on “Pink Fang.”
The crux of Transitions’ success and arguably the most important growth seen in Vokonis is in their crystal-clear point of view: the closing lines of “Deadname” lays out the album’s philosophy plain and clear, as Simona pleas “Stay with me / forget my deadname” before an instrumental break closes the track. With every recreation of the self, there is an element of death as well as rebirth, even if this “death” of the identity is mainly an experience of those around the person who changes, and reveling too intensely in our perception of someone in the past is to do them a disservice. This sentiment extends onto “Phantom Carriage,” which reckons with the loss of a family member; “Chrysalis,” which describes Simona emerging as a more fully realized version of herself; and “Arrival,” which unpacks Simona’s thoughts and feelings as she came out as trans on a public platform. While the ideas of loss and queerness may seem disparate at first glance, loss and the necessity to move forward from it can be deeply integrated into queer experience, whether it be a concrete loss of people who no longer wish to be in your life because of your identity or more abstract losses like realizing that your outer self is misaligned with how you see your inner self. These losses are both a curse and a blessing as we are afforded a freedom of expression of identity not as easily granted to those strictly in cis/het communities: queer spaces are by their nature unbounded from a heteronormative culture that shuns them, allowing for more free experimentation of expression, whether it be an uncompromising outward manifestation of who we are on the inside or the creation of a “chosen family” comprised of people who share and understand our experiences, forging bonds that are meaningfully deeper than any offered by blood.
Transitions’ themes of queerness, loss, and their overlap not only prove themselves to be remarkably cohesive in concept but are also represented in a way that is personal and relatable; leaving the listener with a sense of catharsis, relief, and optimism by its end. Despite some room for improvement in Simona’s new vocal performance, and some kinks in the songwriting, Transitions shows that Vokonis can still write killer stoner metal tracks while experimenting with new ideas. Moreover, the band’s point of view is stronger than ever here, and as a consequence, connecting to its themes is absolutely effortless. Given the interesting turn of events in the last three years, I am eager to see what the next three years has in store for both me and Vokonis.
Recommended tracks: Phantom Carriage, Pink Fang, Arrival, Chrysalis
You may also like: Trials, Pryne, Cobra the Impaler, Howling Giant/Sergeant Thunderhoof, Boss Keloid
Final verdict: 7.5/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Metal-Archives page
Label: Majestic Mountain Records – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website
Vokonis is:
– Simona Ohlsson (vocals, guitars)
– Hedvig Modig (guitars)
– Oscar Johannesson (bass)
– Sven Lindsten (drums)
- This exact part drove me absolutely crazy for about a day: there was a track that the breakdown on “Chrysalis” reminded me of to the point of distraction from the actual album, and so I spent the day frantically browsing my music library for artists who would write a breakdown like that. It’s hard to articulate the abject relief I felt when I finally found “Circle of Cysquatch” and could put this mystery to rest. In hindsight, the fact that I didn’t think to check Mastodon at first given their heavy influence on Vokonis makes the whole situation a bit silly. ↩︎
