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Svalbard

The Weight Of The Mask

Written by: PP on 10/01/2024 20:37:00

Snowballing to international metal stardom is what you could say about Svalbard these days. Their previous album "When I Die, Will I Get Better" was an immediate catalyst to success thanks to its ethereal blackgaze style that felt innovative as a metalcore album, yet out-of-place in that genre-definition at the same time. That same approach to pushing the envelope continues on their fourth album "The Weight Of The Mask", which features all the hallmarks of release by a band well on their way towards much bigger stages in due time.

Take a song like "Defiance". Its back-chilling melodies recall the best and most frantic work by technical metalcore stalwarts Shai Hulud, yet these are immediately contrasted by soothing, silky-smooth clean vocals that recall Rolo Tomassi's "Where Myth Becomes Memory", all the while rapid-fire blast-beat pummeling revels in the background. It's brutal, yet beautiful at the same time.

Across the album, Svalbard swims through genres effortlessly, ranging from black metal style tremolo shredding to racy metalcore leads, and back to dreamy clean vocals again, often within the same song. At one moment, it's technical virtuoso on display, and next, it's Serena Cherry's impressively harsh and raw screams that surpass most of her male counterparts in the density and thickness department. It's a thunderous sound that produces plenty of hair-raisingly beautiful guitar melodies, but also elegant post-metal atmospherics, soaring post-hardcore choruses, and classic metalcore breakdowns. You've even got Touché Amoré style punk-fueled post-hardcore/screamo moments from time to time.

Cherry's roar is a perfect fit atop the feverish guitar work, yet "The Weight Of The Mask" is quite a bit slower and more somber than its predecessor. Songs like "Lights Out", "How To Swim Down", and "November" spend plenty of time exploring expansive, ethereal soundscapes rather than showcasing awe-inspiring fretwork. Here, the band truly feels like a post-metal (or post-black as they seem to come these days) band rather than a metalcore one.

I much prefer the moments where the band shreds it like there's no tomorrow. A song like "Be My Tomb" is just so uplifting with its crescendoing, high-pitch riffage and memorable melodies. But that's just my preference. The Rolo Tomassi crowd will surely enjoy the ambient soundscapes all the same. Either way, Svalbard continues to showcase why the UK scene is still at the forefront of innovation when it comes to metalcore.

Download: Defiance, Faking It, Be My Tomb
For the fans of: Shai Hulud, Spiritbox, Rolo Tomassi, Touché Amoré, Deafheaven, While She Sleeps
Listen: Facebook

Release date 06.10.2023
Nuclear Blast