ALBUM REVIEW: Earth – Skraeckoedlan

After over three years away from the scene, SKRAECKOEDLAN emerge with their latest, and potentially most ambitious work yet. Earth, telling a Lovecraftian mystery within the realms of the 1920’s, in collaboration with author Nils Håkansson, is a genre bending, sci-fi mash up of stoner rock and psychedelic prog. With such a complex amount to work with, have SKRAECKOEDLAN returned triumphant?

Opening track Guldaldern begins as little more than a trickle of notes, a flurry of strums, and a twinkle of hesitation. There’s a beauty to this that pulls the chunkier sounds of the full ensemble to the forefront that much more once it kicks in. The overall movement is wonderfully constructed, rising into glorious, towering monuments of powerful psychedelic rock, and bowing down into imaginative progressive lines. A strong start to be sure.

Kung Mammut has a much more primal, but no less ambitious structure. The collocation between the more primordial aspects of their music and the use of effects and synth is a great expansion on the overall themes around science fiction and time the story is trying to convey. Pounding drums and driven guitars rumble through as the trio sing clearly, with an earnest tone that compliments and finish the song satisfactorily. There’s a real sense of adventure and uplifting motion going on here, the melodies flow over you with great ease.

Once more things change in tone without compromising in style, Creature Of Doggerland shifts to be more focused and technically intricate, and along with that comes a much more menacing tone. The thundering and guttural, dual harmonies twisting guitars and blasting drums that inflict a colourful array of fill is very much akin to the likes of MASTODON. With such a title as this, the mental imagery of mammoths and primeval creatures is exceptionally captured in this track.

A cracking, if slightly odd, drum intro prattles around before Angelica kicks into a more even tempo. Just as dynamic as before, with the tensions between bight and airy and a little heavier balanced well. The work by all members is second to none on this record, each member really bringing their A-game, while not having to flecks to hard to impress. All the technicalities compliment the tone and themes necessary here. Back to a bare bones almost blues infused start, Mummutkungens Barn has something of a hard rock edge that still works nicely, but it’s perhaps not as stand-out and original as some of their other tracks. The third portion has a satisfying, low crackle, and tribal humming before ripping into the final portion of the song that melts into a weird and wonderful saving finale.

Things start to get ever more psychedelic with Elfenbenssalarna. Completely stripped back to a homely acoustic guitar, the deception is ripped away by a steadfast grow of the bass and a mighty echoing guitar. SKRAECKOEDLAN have built to the masterpiece of the record, at just over ten minutes, the whole feel of the track has plenty of time to build into a beautiful, monstrous, atmospheric clash of stoner hallucinogenic tones and progressive motions that seep into your mind and completely envelop your brain. For any listener, this is the crown jewel of this record, with or without context lyrically, it’s a stunning piece.

Tentakler & Betar brings things back to a more groove focused, condensed sound. Cramming in as many weird and wonderful riffs and strange audible inflections as possible, this is as much of a pure prog rock as you’re likely to find, and any fans of DREAM THEATRE’s more comprehensive works will enjoy. Ending off in a fine manner is Angra Mainyu. Trippy, fuzzed melody rumbles from a simple guitar into a full bodied, mean spirited entity. A rising droning overlaps the tune as the drums slowly become a crashing, thick raucous, things are coming to a huge crescendo and- suddenly, a swift shift to something a little fun and jazzy… and we are done.

Confident listeners who can appreciate the vocals for more than their audible compliments to the music will find an interesting story here. However, for the wider audience that can simply take this album on its musical merits, there’s plenty to revel in. With its bright and wondrous progressive elements matched equally by the primeval stoner and the surreal psychedelic sections, Earth is an album that put SKRAECKOEDLAN firmly as one of the most unusual progressive bands once more.

Rating: 8/10

Earth is out now via Fuzzorama Records.

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