Maha Sohona
“There’s a bit of Tool, a bit of Alice In Chains but it’s quite mellow and quite slow in places in terms of BPM.”
While metal can be wilfully unreconstructed, there have always been bands who combine a love of overdriven guitars with a more expansive and exploratory bent.
“I’m definitely from more of a metal background,” nods Maha Sohona vocalist/guitarist Johan Bernhardtson. “I grew up with Metallica and Pantera, but then I used to listen to a lot of Gentle Giant. And then I’d listen to Opeth and Tool and Elder – bands who come from a metal base but take it into these interesting places.”
All these influences and more were channelled into Maha Sohona, who coalesced in Umeå, Sweden in around 2012, taking their name from a demon in Sinhalese folklore. “I’m a big surfer and I travelled a lot for that. I was in Sri Lanka and I was fascinated by the mythology,” Johan explains. “I also always liked those kinds of melodies with tonal changes that don't really fit in the Western music that we're used to.” They released a self-titled debut album a couple of years later and their inclusion on a space rock playlist on a popular YouTube channel started gaining some attention. The track in question was called 'Asteroids' and presented a fantastically twisting 13-minute journey through the cosmos
Just as momentum was building, however, life got in the way - particularly when their former drummer becoming a father four times “in quite a rapid timeframe” - and they essentially went on hiatus. Fast forward to 2021 and the reinvented three-piece returned with a follow-up album called 'Endless Searcher' and their first ever live shows. Now on their third drummer (but with no bizarre gardening accidents in their backstory), Maha Sohona have also released their third album, a hypnotically sinuous piece called 'A Dark Place'.
Where the previous two albums were decidedly psychedelic sci-fi in their themes, 'A Dark Place' lands back to Earth with a jarring bump. As the title suggests, it channels Scandinavian melancholy and takes the listener on a more emotional journey. “It’s the state of mind I was in at the time,” Johan shrugs. “It revolves around personal issues and friendships and relationships and it does explore some dark themes. In a way it’s some sort of therapy, I guess and that can be both good and bad. You get reminded of stuff when you sing about it over and over, but it does help you deal with it also.”
Musically, they remain difficult to pin down. 'A Dark Place' still has one foot in the metal realm, but the fuzzy riffs are tempered by questing sensibilities and passages filled with meditative calm. “There’s a bit of Tool, a bit of Alice In Chains but it’s quite mellow and quite slow in places in terms of BPM. You could definitely have it on in the background while you do something else, but it’s also good for active listening,” Johan grins. “Ultimately we just want to make music that evokes some kind of feeling in you.”
- Paul Travers
PROG FILE:
LINE-UP: Johan Bernhardtson (Guitar, Vocals), Thomas Hedlund (Bass), Erik Andersson (Drums)
SOUNDS LIKE: A heavy, hypnotic space rock journey through the darker parts of the human soul
CURRENT RELEASE: New album 'A Dark Place' is out now via Bonebag Records
WEBSITE: MAHA SOHONA