The Shadowed Road is the second full-length from epic black metal band Sojourner and, like their debut, is full of beautiful, lush compositions designed to evoke another time and place. Musically, Sojourner is very much in the vein of Summoning (a band Sojourner has covered) and Caladan Brood, so if you've heard either of those bands, you've already got a firm grip on what The Shadowed Road sounds like. The harsh vocals are raspy but decipherable and are offset by a substantial amount of clean female singing. Pianos and flutes augment the guitar/bass/drums to help cement the atmosphere of desolate, wide-open spaces. I like the female vocals, but they are so ubiquitous in places I sometimes feel like the album loses a little punch. The music is enjoyable nonetheless, so fans of epic black metal should definitely give it a spin.
