Besides their influences from bands like Death, Sadus, and Nocturnus you can find some undisputed qualities in the riffing though much of the enthusiasm comes from the lead guitarist Tommy Jacobsen and, rhythm guitarist V. Fineideath. The album’s title track and opening “Altered Reality” throttles to thrashing power, but we have some brief keyboard intro which sounds like some symphonic black metal the riffs come at an extremely blazing pace. The majority of the songs fuse fragmented riffs from bands like Possessed, Death, and Pestilence, and they contain some fantastic technical guitar abilities before drummer Cato Syversrud provides speed and catchiness.

The vocals of Gravskjender fit the style of the music perfectly, and musically the album sounds raw. It can be compared to what the thrash metal bands in the 80s stood for, while the synth parts are scattered all over the songs, the guitars are the shining element in the album. For example “Futile Dreams” which begins with some technical thrash metal riffing, the guitars constantly offer slow technical passages that are interlaced with some keyboards.

The vocals are throaty and hostile and there are plenty of grooves and guitar solos going on. Though the songs might lack the energetic and the violent vibe, because Sovereign focuses more on the mid-tempo. Tracks such as “Nebular Waves” offer some guitar melodies with hooks injected in the guitar as the riffs thrust along with the drumming. The instrumentation is quite average for a thrash metal band, but there are some fast tempos that push the tempo. Despite some of the faster moments, Sovereign seems to have its emphasis placed on mid-tempo, Gravskjender’s vocals can be found to be somewhat similar to Chuck Schuldiner‘s.

It is also worth mentioning that the album’s cover art of the album has this sci-fi look of a 80s horror film. For most of the album, the guitar solos provide some killer shredding. The thrash metal approach of Sovereign displays the uniqueness of the guitar melodies and the interlaced sci-fi synth sections, which at times offer some killer hooks.

Though not overly technical, I find the styling of these Norwegian to be very moderate, but one cannot deny their influences to 80s death thrash metal, the production of the album is warm and raw. The solo parts are played very fast and are very well executed, and this somehow gives balance to the mix. Some complex riffs can be heard on tracks like “Counter Tech” and “The Enigma of the Intelligence” which are both raw and heavy, and they are clinically technical. The mix of sci-fi death and thrash metal suits the style of Sovereign, the slow guitar riffs are meticulously measured, and they offer some notable hooks in the changing style of the guitars.

The guitar solos in the latter track create a catchy intro with the addition of the synth part. This track tends to be the heaviest on the album with the thrashing drums centered, and seemingly more consistent, especially when the intermittent solos are injected. The composition shines with the shredding riffs, and slow atmospheric sci-fi guitar hooks, the riffs on this track are very much thrashy and then progress into a very atmospheric spectrum.

There is maturity in the songwriting skills and the band has a fine taste to chisel its riffs with some killer technical abilities, though the second part of the album has more energetic and faster parts. The album’s closing track “Absence of Unity” contains plenty of stylish catchy riffs, but the keyboard section at the beginning of the song is epic and spacey. The riffs are sinister and provide hooks and atmospheric passages hinting to a mid-paced tempo when the drums inject some heavy dynamics before stead fasting into a slow labyrinthine technical section.

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