AVKRVST: Waving At The Sky (PROGRESSIVE ROCK): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

A frozen face, bathed in pale light filtered through a lace curtain. She seems terrified. Or already absent. This chilling image, almost suspended in midair, sets the scene for an album that doesn't seek to please, but to stir, to shake up the listener to the point of discomfort. With “Waving at the Sky,” AVKRVST isn't content with just a second album: it's an emotional, tense, uncompromising work.

Tension, in fact, is the raw material of this album. From the very first minutes, the Norwegian band creates an anxiety-inducing atmosphere, like a cage slowly closing in. Everything seems calculated to keep the listener in a state of magnificent discomfort. We feel our way forward, between acoustic introspection and abrasive riffs, without knowing what awaits us in the next measure. But this constant imbalance, far from being chaotic, is orchestrated with impressive precision.

The writing is sinuous, traversed by recurring motifs, tense breaths, and emotional tension. The vocals, often on edge, also know how to be more furious, almost contained in their pain. And the instruments follow suit: the guitars trace, the keyboards soar, the bass rumbles. Some tracks serve as real emotional pivots. “Families are Forever” features a striking guitar solo, both majestic and moving, like a cry that has been held back for too long. Further on, “Conflating Memories” surprises with a crystal-clear, almost heroic keyboard solo that emerges in a heavy atmosphere, followed by a more introspective guitar solo, as if to soften the echo. A discreet but poignant flute also makes a brief appearance, like a fragile breath in a spiraling mental descent.

The appearance of Ross Jennings (Haken) on ‘The Malevolent’ comes as a shock. His tense and vulnerable voice does not embellish the album: it fractures it, accentuating the harshness of the lyrics and further broadening the band's emotional spectrum. Behind the darkness of the arrangements, a whole lexical field of unease, loss, and loneliness emerges—themes addressed head-on but never gratuitously, with disconcerting sincerity.

What strikes you, beyond the intensity, is the intelligence of the construction. Nothing is left to chance. Every transition, every break, every silence has a role to play. And when the final track, “Waving at the Sky,” stretches out in a final breath of more than twelve minutes, between acoustic chiaroscuro and electric jolts, the entire architecture of the album comes to fruition. This long, organic track seems to traverse several emotional states, between resignation and acceptance. A suspended ending, without fanfare but with a muted power.

The influences—Porcupine Tree, Riverside, Opeth's Damnation era—are there, but never dominant. AVKRVST does not seek to follow in anyone's footsteps, but to carve out its own path, to impose an already unique voice. And that is the strength of this album: it seeks neither light nor consolation. It speaks of what we often prefer to keep silent. Without pathos. Without artifice. Just with the weight of silences, the tension of sounds, and that beautiful and brutal darkness which, paradoxically, is comforting. “Waving at the Sky” is a demanding, moving album that is not content with simply being well made: it touches us deeply. An album we will not forget. Because it also forces us to look at what we often try to avoid. - Official website

AVKRVST

WAVING AT THE SKY

INSIDEOUT MUSIC

PROGRESSIVE ROCK