Band:	Skáphe
Album:	Skáphe²
Style:	Psychedelic black metal
Release date:	February 21, 2016
Guest review by:	Neachy

01. I
02. II
03. III
04. IV
05. V
06. VI

Asphyxiating. Hellish. Unrepentingly dark. How does one adequately describe a modern metal album without resorting to to the same tired cliches that are tossed out by every record label and 2-bit amateur reviewer when they want to heap praise on whatever flavor-of-the-week metal band is "redefining dark"?

Skáphe² is the second full-length from Alex Poole's beautifully horrifying project Skáphe. Originally conceived as a one-man project, the lineup has since expanded to include Iceland's D.G. (of Misþyrming fame) on vocals. "Psychedelic" is a term I've seen attached to this album when trying to pin it into a certain microgenre within black metal. While certainly not psychedelic in the way a band like Oranssi Pazuzu is, I find the genre tag fitting. The sound created here is reminiscent of the soundtrack to a bad acid trip, complete with screams echoing off the walls as you plummet and tumble down a cavernous abyss into your own personal hell. The wobbly-sounding guitars and bass leave the listener disoriented as you try to find your bearings in a sound too good to put down but unapologetically dysphoric. One can barely call what's produced here riffs. We've heard similar production tactics in the past from bands like Arizmenda and Wormlust in the endless guitar layering and prominent and wobbling baselines respectively. D.G.'s vocals are head-and-shoulders above the vocals of the prior full-length, as he provides among the best harsh vocals currently in extreme metal. To my knowledge, no lyrics have been officially released cataloging what is actually being shouted, but this adds to the sense of madness created here. The sum of the parts is completely unique to Skáphe.

In my opinion, if you are truly a fan of black metal or extreme metal in general, this album has to be considered something of a watershed. Black metal as a genre has to be one of the most difficult in which to be creatively forward-thinking in a way that's both unique and true to the roots of the music. Skáphe haven't simply blended in another genre of music and called it a day. This is genuinely pushing the genre forward in an honest and profoundly "trve" manner.

In a time in which my beloved genre is under fire for its philosophical underpinnings, there is no doubt the future of black metal must burn away the past. The metaphorical fires of hell must burn away the ideologically tainted dead wood and give birth to something new and pure. Pure and unadulterated in its complete malevolence for everything, rather than convoluted with an ideology of white supremacy or some such nonsense. Skáphe² stands as a shining example of what is the present and future of the genre if there is to be a future at all.