After 2 phenomenal albums and a recent, equally exquisite collaboration with Wormlust, Skáphe are back with their 3rd full length album. Out now via Mystiskaos, Vánagandr and Iron Bonehead Productions.
Psychedelic ambience rumbles into fruition, opening the record with an unnerving and unearthly feel. An eruption of disjointed and fearsome drums, mesmerisingly daunting riffing and utterly demonic vocals spew into a convulsion of cosmic Black Metal destruction. Twisted and disturbing as ever, Skáphe have clearly got the same deranged focus that fuelled their already magnificent discography, taking us back in with a thunderous bass roar entwining with the riffs (of the same source, AP). DG provides his usual maniacal vocals and drums from JB are provided in equally monstrous fashion. With such a psychotic and unhinged sound, the album quickly wraps its tendrils around your psyche and forces its disdainful sound into your brain with no remorse. The blend of hellish intensity and shock of it dropping into almost nothingness is certainly disquieting, but the joining of clean vocals accentuates this haunting monolith to even weirder territories.
Stampeding forth, churning out nothing but unstoppable depravity, the exquisitely formless soundscapes are sparse and delicate while being delivered with a titanic force that is not remotely reproachful. This trio of savagely skilled musicians have no less focus nor direction than usual, though taking a more frenzied and drawn out approach on this record, it ties together into a focal, precise and unwavering slab of dystopian soundscapes. Naturally similarities to Wormlust, Gudveiki, Sinmara and Andavald can be drawn with plenty of aesthetic and sonic similarities but the bass-drive atonality of Skáphe has always made them very recognisable and unique too. This is not pointless dissonance, this is a meditation in the abyss that is feral yet progressive, simplistic on first glance yet perhaps more intricate than the most technical Metal acts.
With some utterly crushing tracks interspersed by short ambience pieces and riffs, the flow of the album is fragmented and jarring but in a totally intentional way, adding to the ferocity and volatility of its delivery. While it may just throw some people head-first into the horrendous abyss conjured, others may find some getting to know the album is a necessity as it is so heavily nuanced. Either way, stick with it as there is much valuable knowledge and rewarding sounds to be endured, enjoyed and violated by throughout. Hopeless yet bold, this bolt of lightning to the dormant mind is one that should not be missed by any with an expansive taste in both Black Metal and Psychedelic music equally. A spectral, chilling and otherworldly trip into ones own internal anguish that is not to be taken lightly at all.
Skáphe³ is not just the bands 3rd album, it is another concoction of potent psychosis that will drive even the most balanced listener far enough into a state of madness just to be able to behold such a recording. The warmth of the ambient bass and scathing cold discordance of the guitar riffs is impactful enough that when the demolishing drums and ghastly vocals are added we truly see this transform from just music into something quite marvellous. Heed my words and witness this adventurous, obliterating and psyche-fragmenting opus for yourself. -9/10
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