Reviews: Vitskär Süden, Diatheke, Sloth, Wythersake (Rich Piva & Mark Young)

Vitskär Süden - Vitskär Süden Reissue (Ripple Music) [Rich Piva]

Vitskär Süden may be known for singing about D&D which is fun and all, especially if you were into it (I was not), but to paint the band into that corner would be a huge mistake, because there is not a band in the heavy music community today that makes more beautifully dark music than Vitskär Süden. Now paired with Ripple Music, the band has a new audience that discovered their version of heavy, which is less about riffs and more about atmosphere and the story behind song. 

The band did this so well on their latest record, their second for Ripple, and third overall, Vessel. But what about that first album that was not on Ripple? How do I get my hands on that slab of dark goodness? Well, Ripple has you covered, as the best label in rock has now, for the first time, offered a physical release for the self-titled debut of Vitskär Süden, and how happy we should all be.

If you have not heard the band before, they are a beautiful slow burn that is more Nick Cave than Sabbath, but like if Nick Cave only listened to Sabbath. Really they sound like Vitskär Süden, so a comparison is not really fair, but the debut record is the perfect starting point for this band’s journey, as it incorporates the slow beauty in a track like War Machine Crimson, 

Their ability to incorporate melody around the slow and sparce darkness in a song like Painted Faces, and the vision to be heavy in their own way, with great guitar and synth collaboration in a song like Trickle Of The Snail. My favourite track on the record is Heathens, as it has it all, with the addition of some harmonized vocals to go with all the other goodness. The eight tracks flow perfectly; beginning to end is the only way to most effectively listen to this journey.

The remastering for the vinyl is top notch here, as this record sounds just amazing, like it was only meant for this format, and given all of the atmosphere iit could have gone the other way, but Vitskär Süden could not have sounded better.

Thank you, once again, to Todd from Ripple for bringing Vitskär Süden’s debut to a wider audience in the form of this repress. Having the band’s trilogy of albums all available makes the legend of Vitskär Süden grow even more. Excellent stuff, do not miss it. 9/10

Diatheke - And The Word Was God (Rottweiler Records) [Mark Young]

This is a very assured debut release from Diatheke, who decided that if you are going to do a concept album, then the maxim of ‘go big or go home’ should be applied at every stage of the journey. Their take on Progressive Death Metal sees them change lane with alarming speed but also with intelligence. 

The opening gambit, The Creator is a near thirteen-minute exploration of Biblical themes that initially starts slowly as instrumental bars slip away to usher in the band proper. So far, so normal as they bring in a solid groove but the first signs of that progressive edge starts to make itself known as tempo’s change as well as primary weapons of aural destruction. 

Its difficult (and boring for you) to describe it, but in that first 5 or so minutes their willingness to jump between styles and approaches is there. Riffs are razor sharp, drum patterns are built and delivered by an evil genius and sat amongst that are vocals that change on a penny from the guttural to the clean. 

It’s a brave move by them to effectively write a song like this and just tee it up as their starting point. There is so much going on, it is the definition of what an ‘epic’ track sounds like. No repeated measures, no guitars that drone on, its just wave after wave of engaging music that places an amazing amount of pressure on the rest of the album to deliver.

Well, next up is The Deceiver and on this they chose violence. This is a focused attack where they just keep hitting you and hitting you, its phenomenally tight but replete with some mint melody lines that keep that progressive edge bubbling whilst not getting in the way of brutality. Its quite the thing and acts as a net in some ways from The Creator before The Promise comes in and changes the atmosphere from one of darkness to light. This may sound twee, but bear with me. Its still heavy, but it feels like it is bathed in light when compared to the two that preceded it. 

There are massive Opeth vibes running through this and as I’ve been saying recently listening to this with headphones is something else. Its clear as day, each touch is there and it sounds fantastic. If they continue on this path, I’m going to run out of ways of saying how good it is. The Promise amps up the progressive side, using discord where necessary as well. Its incredible that they have managed to hit these heights and then stay there.

The Redeemer comes in on that front foot again, bringing in some exceptional guitar work and its at this point that I notice the track lengths are insane. Of the 6 songs here, The Deceiver is the shortest at 6 minutes, the rest are 8 and above and this one weighs in at 10 minutes. The point I’m making with this is that none of them feel like they are long songs. 

The Redeemer has this section around the 6-minute mark, just before the cleans come in which is royal, one of those hairs on the arms just for the way its executed. The way the cleans come in on here and elsewhere is not forced, it’s just written that way and it works superbly.

And there is no let-up, The Empowerment with a galloping riff that I always love to hear, coupled with an eastern tinge, is just royal. Like the others, it’s a repeat of how to change organically and thematically within one song and its effortless. The balance between the heavy and the subtle, the light and dark is exemplary. Check out the stomping slow-down around 3 and half minutes, there are bands out there who would sell their mothers for riffs as good as this.

With The Coronation we reach the end of the trip, and the well of inspiration is showing no signs of drying up. It is an uplifting piece, which provides a fitting bookend to what has got to be a sure-fire AOTY contender. I’ve not heard anything like this in terms of how wide the scope is, how well it sounds and how well it is executed. 

For once, the accompanying PR is bang on in terms of how good this is, and yes it was difficult to express that, I think once you get sat down with this it will all become clear. How they will top this, I have no idea but I suggest you get hold of this immediately. 10/10

Sloth - Necromagicka EP (Self Released) [Rich Piva]

You have to love it when a band lives up to its name, and Los Angeles, California’s Sloth certainly does that on their new EP, Necromagicka. This is four-ish songs, (one is a short intro) two new and two live, of some serious low and slow psych covered doom that is really slow and good, if you hang in there.

Why do you need to hang in there? Because not counting the two-minute intro, the average song length here is 11 minutes, but if you like your doom to slowly plod along the ground both destroying and getting high with everything in its wake, then this one is for you. The highlight here is the title track, as Necromagicka is some serious excellent funeral doom, with killer guitar work borrowed from all of the masters of the genre and some vocals that incorporate a cool effect on the voice, that combine to make this my favourite Sloth song yet. 

This is fuzzy, heavy, slow, and did I mention heavy, and is worth the price of admission alone. You also get two live tracks that give you what the experience would be seeing the band in the flesh, which I would imagine would be two or three songs total given how long they are, but it would be so worth it.

Sloth’s Bandcamp bio calls it perfectly: 70’s style fuzzy, psyched out, funeral paced occult doom. Yup. Agree. I love the guitar work, I love the vibe, I love the fuzz. Worth your time, even those with a short attention span because the Necromagicka EP is a crusher. 7/10

Wythersake - At War With Their Divinity (Scarlet Records) [Mark Young]

Sometimes you just don’t get on with an album. It’s not you, its me is probably as close as an explanation I can offer as to why this occurs. It doesn’t seem to matter that it has all of the core ingredients you like – aggressive guitar, pummelling drums but at the heart there is something not quite there for you. And unfortunately, this is the case here with Wythersake and their sophomore release of At War With Their Divinity. 

I’ve sat and listened and I can appreciate it on those terms but it didn’t grab me in a way I expected. What you have is 12 songs that deliver blackened death with hints of the symphonic in there, which are presented well. Each one follows what I would class as a traditional format with racing tempos that sees the first three songs come and go in a blur. This is fine for some but as the album progresses there is not much variance in this attack and as a result I’m not engaged as I would like.

In the past, effort and a good sound would mask some weaknesses in the material being played, for example the low-end riffing of Dancing Plagues Of Modern Man set against those quickfire drums or the high-speed start of the title track At War With Their Divinity would act as a pick me up to get onboard and look at the overall picture but not today. Its like they have backed themselves into a corner by going down the blitzkrieg route which is fine but measuring it against some of the releases that have come out so far this year I need something more than just pure speed. 

It feels mechanical in some respects and I know from a technical point of view its played to a high standard (certainly one I’ll never get near in my own playing) but it doesn’t inspire to set about trying to learn them and I think it’s a case of you soon recognising an emerging form to the songs where each one is of a similar nature to the one before. When there is a deviation, such as the more traditional black metal leanings of Gotterdammerung which has some class guitar going on, you think why couldn’t bring more like this? 

When they do slow down on The Autumnal Passing, that reduction in tempo allows them to bring in the atmosphere which makes it hit harder and allows them to breath a little. Shrines Of Offal Rise brings the speed back, again it does its job but its not as worthwhile to me as The Autumnal Passing. Reading this back I feel like that meme of ‘old man shouting at clouds’ and its possibly correct but what is the benefit of being old(er) if you can’t complain about things?

So, to close out I can say that I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it. For those who love blackened death with definite symphonic leanings, then this is right up your street. For me, as I’ve said it passed me by without getting its hooks into me and for that it’s. 6/10