Posted in Whathaveyou on September 2nd, 2021 by JJ Koczan
This announcement of September tour dates for Skraeckoedlan was actually made earlier this month — and scrolling back through the band’s Facebook page, I remember why the dates haven’t been posted here already. It was a Friday, and I was doneski. By the time I got around to Monday when they might’ve been posted, it had slipped my mind. No, it’s not like I’m so awash in tour announcements that I can’t get a handle on them — though I expect if I was, you know, better at life, that would be the case — but it doesn’t take much for me to get distracted these days. Moderately loud noises. Blinking lights. Nothing. What were we talking about?
Fortunately for me, Fuzzorama Records included the tour in their latest email newsletter, which if you’ll recall also brought word the other day (yesterday?) that Skraeckoedlan were among the bands announced as taking part in the Truckfighters Fuzz Festival 2 in Stockholm this November. You wanna go? I do. And if you’re saying, hey, didn’t Skraeckoedlan just put out the anniversary edition of their debut album, Äppelträdet (review here), on The Sign Records back in June? Yes, they did. Remember too that Fuzzorama issued the third Skraeckoedlan album, Eorþe (review here), in 2019. Also that Skraeckoedlan and Truckfighters have worked together all along on production, shows, etc. Specific to the festival, Skraeckoedlan played it in 2019. So yeah. Buds.
Here’s dates from that newsletter:
Skraeckoedlan to tour Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Belgium in Sept!
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 1st, 2020 by JJ Koczan
Swedish modern progressive heavy rock/metallers Skraekoedlan originally released their second album, Sagor (review here), in 2015 through Razzia Records, and I recall at the time thinking it was kind of a curious fit, as they mostly release pop and not stuff quite so hard-hitting as Sagor was. There was some relation to In Flames, if I remember right. I don’t know. Whatever it was, the album didn’t seem to get the love it deserved, so I’m glad to see it being reissued on vinyl through The Sign Records. The label also reissued Skraeckoedlan‘s debut, 2011’s Äppelträdet (review here), in 2018, and that’s being pressed again as well. The more the merrier.
Preorders are up. Here’s the info from the PR wire:
Skraeckoedlan to re-release second album “Sagor” on colored vinyl
The Sign Records will re-release the second album “Sagor” by Skraeckoedlan on colored vinyl August 14. The album, which turns five years old this year, will be released on 180g double LP with gatefold cover. The first pressing is limited to 1000 copies, and the vinyl is available for pre-orders today.
Skraeckoedlan’s second album “Sagor” was released in June 2015 on Razzia / Sony Music. The album was praised by both critics and fans, and the physical release has for long been difficult to obtain. This year, the album turns 5 years old. To celebrate this, Skraeckoedlan has partnered up with The Sign Records for a physical re-release of the vinyl. The band has previously collaborated with the label – in 2018, The Sign Records released a repress of Skraeckoedlan’s debut album “Äppelträdet”, and in the fall of 2019 Skraeckoedlan headlined The Sign Records’ traveling festival “The Sign Fest”.
Robert Lamu, vocalist and guitarist in Skraeckoedlan, states:
“We are very happy to finally be able to re-release our album “Sagor” on vinyl after 5 long years. This album means a lot to us, and it feels good to finally be able to offer it on the format it was meant for.”
“Sagor” will be available in 1000 copies of colored, 180g double LP. Like the original, the album will have a gatefold cover. In addition, the design of the cover artwork will have a few changes. Besides the re-release of “Sagor”, The Sign Records will also release a new pressing of Skraeckoedlans debut album “Äppelträdet” in 500 copies of 180g purple vinyl.
The re-release of “Sagor”, as well as the new pressing of “Äppelträdet”, will be out on vinyl format August 14. Both albums are available as pre-orders today.
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 18th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
I happen to know for a fact that Skraeckoedlan vocalist/guitarist Robert Lamu has the winged deer from the cover of Dozer‘s Through the Eyes of Heathens tattooed on his arm, so it’s easy to imagine he’s good and stoked to share the stage with Skraeckoedlan‘s usually-not-all-that-active countrymen forebears. That’s badass in itself, but word that Skraeckoedlan will share the stage this Spring with fellow badass Swedes Vokonis, will play Desertfest London 2019 and are welcoming a new bassist even as they release their third album, Eorþe (review here), on Fuzzorama only broaden the scope of awesomeness surrounding them at this point. The moral of the story? It’s a good week to be in Skraeckoedlan.
The following is culled from social media and the PR wire:
Swedish fuzz-fictioneers SKRAECKOEDLAN announce Desertfest London appearance and Spring Tour with Vokonis
People of Earth!
We are super excited to welcome our new band member and bass player extraordinaire. Skraeckoedlan is once again a 4 piece.
Please give Erik Berggren the warmest of welcomes.
Skraeckoedlan live: 02.23 Malmö SE Plan B (Stad I Mörker)* 03.16 Göteborg SE Truckstop Alaska* 03.23 Köpenhamn DK Beta* 04.20 Borlänge SE Broken Dreams (w/ Dozer) 05.03 London UK Desertfest 05.17 Umeå SE Droskan (Make it Sound)* 05.18 Vilhelmina SE Folkets Hus* 06.01 Sundsvall Aveny (Club Deströyer) * with Vokonis
Heading into 2019 with the help of Fuzzorama Records, Skraeckoedlan steer a course to Eorþe, their first album in over three years and undoubtedly their most progressive. With the big metal riffs of new single ‘Kung Mammut’ riding shotgun alongside the more introspective and explorative moments of songs like ‘Mammutkungens Barn’ and ‘Angra Mainyu’, the trio have cut a definitive and spellbinding record of light and dark. In addition to the CD and standard vinyl editions, Eorþe will also come in a limited-edition box set which sees the album split across two gatefold vinyl records; Earth: Above and Earth: Below. The set will come packed with pieces of merchandise that revolve around the story and feature alternative artwork.
Skraeckoedlan: Robert Lamu – Vocals/Guitar Henrik Grüttner – Guitar Erik Berggren – Bass Martin Larsson – Drums
Posted in Reviews on January 11th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
[Click play above to stream the premiere of Skraeckoedlan’s translated-lyric video for “Creature of Doggerland.” Their new album, Eorþe, is out Feb. 15 on Fuzzorama Records. Preorders are here.]
I generally assume that if I’m writing about something, you already know about it because you’re cooler than I am, because, frankly, that’s how it usually works. But if you haven’t heard of Skraeckoedlan — especially if you don’t live in Sweden — there’s a decent chance it’s because they sing in Swedish. The fuzz rockers have parted with bassist Tim Ångström since their 2015’s Sagor (review here) with Robert Lamu moving from guitar to bass in addition to vocals, while Henrik Grüttner handles the lone guitarist role as well as more vocals and Martin Larsson remains on drums. One might think the band’s third album and first for Fuzzorama Records, Eorþe, would be more stripped down as a result, but the truth is it’s the most progressive record they’ve made in the decade they’ve been together. Their 2011 debut, Äppelträdet (review here) — also recently reissued by The Sign Records from the original release on Transubstans — blended fuzz-drenched tonality with a post-Mastodon style of metal, but they’ve only grown more since then, and as they align with Fuzzorama, they continue an association with sadly-defunct countrymen Truckfighters that extends all the way back to the recording of their first album.
Indeed, one might look at Eorþe as inheriting the mantle of fuzzprog that the last couple Truckfighters albums were working toward, running a fluid nine songs and 54 minutes with a greater depth of melody and broader sonic reach than they’ve ever shown. Songs like “Mammutkungens Barn,” the earlier highlight “Kung Mammut,” the 10-minute “Elfenbenssalarna” and the acoustic closer “Peggys Sång” demonstrate the range of their composition, while even a song like the under-four-minute “Tentakler & Betar” finds a way to hit new ground with vocal harmonies and a pointedly forward thrust. Whether it’s an extended piece like “Creature of Doggerland” (note the English title), or the opener “Guldåldern” or the drum-led beginning of “Angelica,” Eorþe wants nothing for heft either in tone or construction — indeed, tone has been a strength of Skraeckoedlan all along and very much remains one — but even as they hold onto their stylistic weight, they turn into a more nuanced and individualized unit.
When it comes right down to it, Eorþe is Skraeckoedlan reestablishing themselves after a change in their dynamic. The shift from two guitarists to one, even covered in the studio by layering guitar tracks and whatever else, is not a minor one. It affects songwriting as well as how the material is played. And Skraeckoedlan pull that off, no question. For a band who’ve been around for 10 years and have experience recording and touring, that’s not a huge surprise. They should know what they want to sound like — at least to some basic degree — and be able to make that happen. Fine. Where Eorþe really succeeds though is in not only finding Skraeckoedlan make this claim on who they are as a band, but in moving their sound forward from where it was three years ago. Their work is richly textured and in listening to the melody in the chorus of “Mammutkungens Barn,” one can hear their heritage in Scandinavian metal coming through in more than just the language they’re using, but like the grunge-style opening riff of that song — reminds of something from the early-mid ’90s; is it Sonic Youth? — they bring each of their influences into a context that is their own.
They did the same on Äppelträdet in imagining a fuzz-metal stomp in the first place, but with just about every move they make on Eorþe, they do so with a greater scope and identity born of the maturity of their composition. As a result, Eorþe isn’t just Skraeckoedlan‘s finest hour, but a way forward for them in this new incarnation that builds on what they’ve done before. In the tension of “Guldåldern” or the atmosphere of the penultimate instrumental “Angra Mainyu,” their ability to craft a flow and mood across disparate elements brought into a single presentation is engrossing, and the confidence with which they execute the material is what allows them to carry the audience along every step of the way. Lamu, Grüttner and Larsson are in absolute control of their sound in these tracks, and the potential that always seemed to be residing in their sound has begun to bear fruit accordingly.
Skraeckoedlan have generally kept to a unifying science-fiction thematic over their years, writing about monsters and in this case specifically, mammoths and beasts that may or may not have tentacles and tusks, etc., but whether or not a given listener speaks Swedish, there’s no mistaking the intent of their craft. They are a band who have worked diligently to hone their approach, and while Eorþe is dense, and not a minor undertaking at 54 minutes long, they remain accessible through their use of melody and rhythmic momentum. The fluidity of Eorþe is not to be understated, and while I don’t know if they’re telling a unified story in the lyrics, the underlying point is that the album itself is unified, and the trio are unified in their mission to grow as a band. They have. They do. One hopes they’ll continue to.
In the largesse-laden instrumental stretches of “Elfenbenssalarna,” Skraeckoedlan make clear not only how they’ve developed, but that their commitment is to keep evolving as a creative force, and that the impact that was so much of their initial appeal remains an important factor in what they do. Listening to Eorþe, one can only be glad that’s the case, but the truth is that Skraeckoedlan have expanded their aesthetic to the point that they’re about so much more than just the volume at which one hears them. The melody, the quick turns, the ambience of Eorþe have just as much of an effect on the overarching experience of the songs as the fuzzy tones, shouts and consistent sense of lumber. Whatever it is that has one hearing them, though, they’re a band who deserve more attention than they’ve gotten, and regardless of whatever language barrier there might be with a broader public, Skraeckoedlan break through it like one of the tentacled mammoths of their own creation.
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 13th, 2018 by JJ Koczan
Well how about that? I said a thing might happen and it’s happening. Are you impressed at my prescience? No? Yeah, me neither. Fact is, that when Swedish fuzzlifters Skraeckoedlan announced the 180g vinyl reissue of their first album, Äppelträdet (review here), on The Sign Records, it wasn’t such a huge leap to think a new full-length would follow sometime soon.
Their third, it follows behind 2015’s Sagor (review here) and has been given the title Eorþe. The word translates to ‘earth,’ which makes sense given that the ‘þ’ character roughly equates to a “th” sound (if I learned nothing else from Icelandic black metal, I learned that), and while it’s a pretty ambitious stage-setter in terms of scope, Skraeckoedlan have only grown increasingly progressive as time has gone on, so it’s likewise easy to imagine the planet is only a launching point for the ground the record will actually cover.
There’s a teaser clip playing now — or at least it’s playing after you click play — at the bottom of this post that gives a quick sampling of the fuzzy depth of tone the band brings to bear this time around for what, suitably enough, will be their debut on Fuzzorama Records. The label announcement follows, via the PR wire:
SKRAECKOEDLAN announces new album!
Fuzzorama Records proudly presents, from the imaginarium of author Nils Håkansson: Eorþe. As the enlightened has predicted since the birth of the aeons, 2019 will set in motion events of cosmic proportions. Be they good or evil or beyond our understanding of intent, questions better asked of species to come, for dim lay the waters of tomorrow’s reflection. But take heart, the seas will part in the springtime, and that which was meant for the depths will reemerge anew.
This fuzzy masterpiece will be released early 2019!
Skraeckoedlan: Robert Lamu – Vocals/Guitar Henrik Grüttner – Guitar Tim Ångström – Bass Martin Larsson – Drums
