ALBUM REVIEW: Svalbard – The Weight Of The Mask


 

I’ve been looking forward to wrapping my ears around Svalbard’s new material after catching snippets of what was to come when I caught them live supporting Russian Circles and Cult Of Luna over in Berlin earlier in 2023. And landing that European tour signified a fine start to a year which has also seen the Bristol based band sign for Nuclear Blast Records, with The Weight Of The Mask their first album for the prestigious new label and their first collection of new songs since the excellent When I Die, Will I Get Better? which was released on Church Road Records back in 2020.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Noctule – Wretched Abyss


Those of you who tuned into our 2020 Album of the Year podcasts will be very aware that both Da Ed and I have a serious amount of admiration for British post-hardcore artists Svalbard, whose When I Die, Will I Get Better? (Church Road) caught our attention with the subtle expansion revealing an icy Black Metal core, most prevalent in the proliferation and development of tremolo-picked motifs. Guitarist Serena Cherry goes one step further with her debut Black Metal solo outing, Wretched Abyss (Translation Loss), released under the Noctule banner, indulging her frozen soul and frostbitten inspirations. Continue reading