If there’s one debut album we’ve been waiting on for what seems like a very long time, it’s the upcoming release by SHEREIGN, entitled “Ghost Diaries,” which is set to come out on January 20th, 2023. Perhaps most noteworthy is that this new band hosts former END OF AEON and FEAR OF DOMINATION vocalist Sara Strömmer, so for those of us who have been missing her since she left her previous bands, we’re very curious to hear what she’s been up to with this new group, officially!
The first song SHEREIGN released was back in November 2020: “Losing Sight.” This song showed off a great deal of allure, as we all know that Sara is a more-than-capable vocalist by now, but the chemistry between her and the rest of the band also seemed to work very well.
“Ghost Diaries” opens with three tracks – “Six Feet Deep,” “Escape,” and “Dying Sun” – that set a solid sound stage of excellent melodic alternative metal with grungey riffing, clean and harsh vocals, driving rhythms, and a generally expert execution across the board. Surely their style is a bit unusual, so for those of you who are craving something different, this is already proving to be an album worth checking out. While there are always liable to be those who don’t quite get it, SHEREIGN feel heavy enough to please the metalheads, with a gentler side that can still help lure people with softer taste into their music.
Perhaps one of the most interesting songs to stand out immediately is single “Against the Odds,” whose intro could have come straight out of WITHIN TEMPTATIONS “The Silent Force,” but once it kicks off, it goes into full screamo thrash mode… quite unexpectedly, if I may say so. While the thrashy parts are powerful, it’s the melodic bits that allude back to “Losing Sight” – which was always a personal favorite – that really make it stand out. In between these two sits “Dark Waters,” another familiar single that was noteworthy for its fabulous melodic chorus, wherein Sara really gets to show off.
“Strong” has been standing out in their live shows as a personal highlight for the smooth yet powerful guitar lines that go so well with the vocals, so finding out that it’s as good on the album was naturally a pleasant discovery. There’s some hefty chugging and roaring in “The Fighter,” which really has some fun guitarwork, stylistically moving around quite a bit. Their softer side gets explored in “Deadlock,” which ended up being another personal highlight due to its surprisingly ambient feel. “Remedy” is the final track and its energy reflects that, with a hint of that magical “last track drama” and one of those keyboard outros that leaves you wanting more.
I must confess that I had a minor prediction that this album would be lacking a distinct sound of its own based off how diverse the singles had been, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that this album does, in fact, have a solid sound and feel of its own. It’s hard not to focus on the vocals and guitars since they are spectacular throughout, but let’s not neglect how well the rest of the band is doing – the sound is nicely put together and no one is slacking off, and as mentioned earlier, the chemistry between everyone seems to be excellent. “Ghost Diaries” is an impressive debut for SHEREIGN and it will be really interesting to see where they go from here!
Written by Bear Wiseman
Tracklist
- Six Feet Drop
- Escape
- Dying Sun
- Against the Odds
- Dark Waters
- Strong
- Losing Sight
- The Fighter
- Deadlock
- Remedy
Lineup
Sara Strömmer – vocals
Joonas Pulkkinen – guitars
Timo Pönni – guitars
Jani Rissanen – bass
Miikki Kunttu – drums
Label
Independent
