From the icy shores of Sweden, Speglas come gliding in with their debut full-length, showcasing their desolate brand of blackened post-death…and it’s certainly got enough bite to make you stand up and listen!
Having been present in some form since 2015, and with two EP’s (Birth, Dreams and Death from 2015; Time, Futility and Death from 2022) under their belt, this time the triplet obsessed purveyors of expiration come armed with Endarkment, Being and…you guessed it…Death. What you’l find is 45 minutes of reverb-soaked, spacious guitar lines, rasping vocals, atmospheric layering and thundering drums that will surely satiate your musical hunger. This is about as cinematic as you can get without stealing Christopher Nolan’s trousers…
Opening with Woe, the record sets out it’s mournful tone through use of atmospherics and layering whilst gradually introducing the whispered, spoken vocals of Isak Koskinen Rosemarin…It’s nothing particularly unique or new, but it serves it’s purpose well and the final, solitary words of “God is dead, God remains dead, and we have killed him” are left to ring out, ushering in the inevitability of an album that is designed to grip you at your emotional core.
Once the record kicks off proper with The Endarkment, the guitar lines slice through the mix like morning light through thick fog and there’s an element of hopefulness to the lonely songwriting that you wouldn’t necessarily expect. This neatly ties the sound in with the themes of life, death and futility which are present across the album. Tremolo lines evoke haunting beauty while counter-riffs descend into desperate weight, the previous whispered vocals are quickly replaced by some exemplary rasping vocals….there’s a moment in Incessant Severance where the vocals are isolated for a few moments and you can truly appreciate the unbridled power behind them….it’s quite astonishing!
This is an album that relies heavily on balance. The balance between dark and light. The balance between the majestic and the theatrical. Balance between the melancholy and the furious. It is lucky, then, that Speglas clearly understand their responsibilities here, and although there are some moments where they trip over themselves (the classic heavy metal balladeering of Dearth which teeters over into pastiche territory; the inclusion of the interlude track Ailing which serves only as a way for the record to lose its momentum), these moments are far outweighed by some inarguably poignant songwriting…Rage Upon The Dying Fire is easily on of my favourite songs of the year!
Couple this with some incredibly impressive production (handled by Simon Söderberg of Ghost fame), and what you end up with is an album that is expansive, emotionally confrontational and filled with a fire that can both scorch your flesh and gently warm your bones.
Best Paired with – A family size bucket of popcorn, a sick note and an urn.
Reviewed by Bryn
Speglas – Endarkenment, Being & Death is out now on Trust No One Recordings.
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