You know that Russia has been a great epicenter of the Pagan Black metal world and that’s where the mighty Svartskaldr comes from. The band has been treading an independent path so far. The first traces of the project are from 2017, what arrived in our hands was the last release “Songs to the Sun”. And what can we expect when listening to this album? A Black Metal with a Pagan Black Metal vibe, well balanced and aggressive guitars, with that Norwegian feeling, but at the same time, some passages that remind Enslaved.
The album starts off with a burst of heavy “The Black God” with a killer riff. A song to bring out all the strength of Extreme Metal. The drums are also a war machine here. It’s six minutes of pure raw and brutal aggression. “The Black Mother” features a lilting intro that is broken by Nikita Davydov’s shattering roar. The arrangements seems to sail in waves behind the voice appeal that dictates the beat of all instruments. Great performance on this track, the chorus sounds like a mantra to the gods! Even in the slower parts without losing the brutality that emanates from this album.
“The Prophet’s Pyre” with a string intro and a folk beat is a highlight of the album. Whispered, smooth voices blend into a lever of emotions, until the vocal turns into a brutal kaleidoscope changing the tempo of the entire track, and the unpredictable is again in Svartskaldr‘s favor. With a more HeavytThrashMetal strand on guitars we have “Hymn to the Sun” and the sequel “When Skald’s Lute and Gjallarhorn Shall Sing Together” with twin guitars featuring a raw and well-crafted Pagan Black metal with cyclic arrangements throughout the track. It’s a highlight of the album!
The obscure “Legions Of Endless Nothingness” comes next and echoes emanating a viking aura and at the same time awakening a negative vibe with chilling tremolos and lyrics like this: “Hordes of Great Ancients escaped from the chasm To burn everything to what time has come to burn away to annihilate everything to what time has come to decay.” The voice here blends with the guitars that sound like blades. One of my favorite tracks! “Revolt Against the Modern World” and its screams of “Honor and Pride” shake the structures of a fragile world. Aggressive and melodic in the right measure. Most of the lyrics are written in Russian, some in English, which does not invalidate the understanding. All lyrics are provided by the band, even on Bandcamp.
One of those tracks is “Eternal Winter Snowstorm“, endowed with a relentless melody while the Black Metal blast beats just don’t stop throughout the nearly six minutes of the track. The album closes with “With the Witchcraft Our Fatherland Praised” and what a track! It sums up what Svartskaldr is all about since their debut album “Hypostasis Interitum“. A war machine that mixes heritage, war and paganism and the mix could not be devastatingly perfect!
Following the Slavic musical tradition, once created by Nokturnal Mortum, Kroda… Svartskaldr arrives with their new album showing a high level musicality of production, with melodies that go from epic to atmospheric, and a folk ambiance, but don’t let yourself deceive, as there are no happy melodies around here! If you can relate to Slavic Pagan/Black Metal in general, Svartskaldr will definitely be your next purchase!
Rate: 666
You can get the Svartskaldr album HERE!
