Today, Feb. 19, Swedish progressive fuzz rockers Skraeckoedlan release their new single, Universum. Well, new-ish. The song originally appeared as “Universe” on 2011’s Äppelträdet (review here), the band’s debut album, and below, they talk a bit about their original reasons for recording it in English — as well as a few other tracks they’re redoing to celebrate the debut’s 10th anniversary (they grow up so fast!) — and why they’ve gone back to it now. I think it’s safe to say that if the four-piece were on the road doing 100 shows this year, it might not be happening in this way, but more Skraeckoedlan is not a gift gila-monster I’m about to look in the mouth. They’re welcome around these parts anytime.

You’ll by now be familiar with the format of the pandemic-era performance video. Thus we see the four members of Skraeckoedlan — guitarist/vocalist Robert Lamu, guitarist Henrik Grüttner, bassist Erik Berggren and drummer Martin Larsson — in individual boxes, each playing his part of the song in sync with the studio version of the track. Much to their credit, they have some fun with that beyond the simple playthrough. Lamu takes advantage of a break to water the plants behind him. Larsson gradually builds his pillow-kit as he goes and likewise seems to defrock from business-casual to headbang-ready in terms of attire. And, well, Berggren is there live and he’s… he’s ready to proceed. He’s not a cat.

I’ll admit, I kept hoping that at some point Grüttner would get in a quick game of ping-pong, but alas. Can’t have everything. And does the swap from English to Swedish make the song any less catchy? Nope. Still a Rampage-worthy stomp ready to get stuck right in your brain — precisely the sort of fare that’s become a specialty of House Skraeckoedlan over the last decade. They kill it and don’t look back and one would expect no less. Way down at the bottom of the post, I’ve included “Universe” so you can do a compare/contrast with “Universum” if so inclined, but while you’re spending time, take the opportunity to dig into 2019’s Eorþe (review here) again as well, if only to remind yourself how far Skraeckoedlan‘s journey has taken them.

I wonder what they mean by, “In April it is Sunrise?”

Enjoy the clip:

Skraeckoedlan, “Universum” official video premiere

SKRAECKOEDLAN – ÄPPELTRÄDET 10 year anniversary

“If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.”
– Carl Sagan

A decade has passed since we in Skraeckoedlan released our debut album.

The year before, we released two demos: Flykten från Tellus and Världarnas fall.

It was on these two demos that we built the songs for what later became the album Äppelträdet.

We were then faced with a choice: Would we continue to have all the songs in Swedish, or would we rewrite some of the songs with English lyrics. We thought that we might limit ourselves as a band, if we only had songs in Swedish.

We cowardly wrote three songs with English lyrics, because we simply did not know if it would work to play heavy, groovy rock in Swedish and still be able to get out and play around the world, something we all had as a childhood dream.

We were wrong.

It has turned out that the Swedish songs have absolutely worked even outside of Sweden.

Due to our cowardly decision, we have almost never played any of these three English songs live. We want to change that.

Now that Äppelträdet turns 10 years old, we therefore are releasing a new version of the album, entirely in Swedish. The release has been re-mastered by Magnus Lindberg (Cult of Luna).

In order to bake an apple pie from scratch, we have had to first invent the Universe, which will be released on February 19th.

In April it is Sunrise.

Skraeckoedlan:
Robert Lamu – Vocals/Guitar
Henrik Grüttner – Guitar
Erik Berggren – Bass
Martin Larsson – Drums

Skraeckoedlan, “Universe” from Äppelträdet (2011)

Skraeckoedlan, Eorþe (2019)

Skraeckoedlan’s website

Skraeckoedlan on Instagram

Skraeckoedlan on Thee Facebooks

The Sign Records on Thee Facebooks

The Sign Records website

Swedish classic heavy rockers Hot Breath will release their debut LP, Rubbery Lips, on April 9 through The Sign Records. The long-player — and no mistake, it is a long-player in the classic model thereof — follows their 2019 self-titled debut EP (review here), which The Sign also released, and it presents 10 tracks in an air-tight ’70s-inspired groove-led form. From the outset “Right Time,” four-piece fronted by guitarist Jennifer Israelsson with Karl Edfeldt also on guitar, Anton Frick Kallmin on bass and Jimmy Karlsson on drums make a vital argument for themselves, taking unabashedly poppy hooks and transposing them on songs like “Magnetic” and the careen-chugging “Last Barang,” speedier in that highway-at-night fashion but still willfully catchy.

And that argument leaves little room for disagreement. Because they’re a band with some measure of pedigree — members having served the cause in outfits like Honeymoon Disease, Hypnos and Mamont over the last decade — it’s not necessarily a surprise their first album should find them in such a having-their-shit-together state, but in accord with their will and ability to bring their aesthetic to life, they also answer back that the songwriting prowess demonstrated on their EP was no fluke.

“What You’re Looking For, I Have Already Found” is the penultimate track on side A, and that puts it in a transitional role ahead of “Who’s the One,” which rounds out the first half of the record and is the only song to top five (or four, for that matter) minutes long. It is a pop-heavy rock epic in pre-’80s fashion, kind of a piece out of time but grown out of the same impulse toward retro-ism that drives the surrounding boogie. As the riff and soon-joining bassline of “What You’re Looking For, I Have Already Found” make plain, one way or the other, Hot Breath have no time to waste; their 34-minute total runtime on Rubbery Lips is further testament.

Suitably, side B of the record gets down to the business of having a good time in clear, concise and effective fashion, launching with “Adapted Mind” and boasting cassingle-ready proto-metal in “Turn Your Back” with a ready B-side in the subsequent “One Hit (To the Body)” and as the four-piece continue the thread of no-nonsense fun. They’ve already done a video for closer “Bad Feeling,” and fair enough, but “What to Do,” which appears just before, is no less striking in its catchiness, and one can say the same of any number of the cuts here. In a time without touring, Hot Breath have no shortage of tracks worth highlighting throughout.

And yet, Rubbery Lips — for being a collection of individual songs — isn’t without an overarching flow, as shown when “What to Do” gives over to “Bad Feeling” and of course elsewhere too. That may seem incongruous, but it’s not when you actually listen. Likewise, I’ll argue that despite their affinity for late-’70s/early-’80s rock and roll, Hot Breath are nothing if not modern in their accessibility, born as that is through the unflinching sense of structure that fuses the songs.

I would have no trouble believing Hot Breath have a marker-board in their rehearsal space where they plot out verses and choruses, since the resultant material throughout Rubbery Lips comes across as so worked on and thought through. And that is a modern ideal, since on the whole, the album is still short enough to play in its entirety even to the most fleeting of 2020s-era attention spans. Want a single? Here are 10 of them. Take your pick.

It’s February, so I’ll spare you speculation about where Rubbery Lips will sit among the year’s best debuts, but in its composition and execution, Hot Breath give life to the kind of party one doesn’t want to miss, and of course, which one misses greatly.

Lyric video for “What You’re Looking For, I Have Already Found” premieres below, followed by more from the PR wire.

Please enjoy:

Hot Breath, “What You’re Looking for, I Have Already Found” lyric video premiere

“What You’re Looking for, I’ve Already Found” is the third single from Hot Breath’s debut album “Rubbery Lips”, released on The Sign Records April 9, 2021.

Lyric video by Oscar Hansen (Urbanslug).

Hot Breath is back and will release their debut studio album “Rubbery Lips” during the spring of 2021. With a foundation built on dirty riffing, memorable hooks, and a nononsense attitude, the new album contains 10 tracks of energetic and catchy garage rock ’n’ roll. With their minds firmly set on releasing nothing but killers, Hot Breath has pushed themselves into perfecting the sound that they presented on their 2019 self-titled EP. The result is a straight-shooting album, guaranteed to twist your hips.

“Rubbery Lips” is recorded and mixed by Mattias Nyberg (The Soundtrack Of Our Lives, The Datsuns). The cover artwork is made by Anders Muammar. The album will be released on The Sign Records on April 9, 2021, on digital, vinyl, and CD format.

Hot Breath are:
Jennifer Israelsson – Vocals and Guitar
Anton Frick Kallmin – Bass
Jimmy Karlsson – Drums
Karl Edfeldt – Guitar

Hot Breath, “Bad Feeling” official video

Hot Breath on Thee Facebooks

Hot Breath on Instagram

Hot Breath on Bandcamp

The Sign Records on Thee Facebooks

The Sign Records website

Sort of a new single, anyhow. Swedish progressive heavy fuzz rockers Skraeckoedlan have never been shy when it comes to bilingualism. Their debut album, 2011’s Äppelträdet (review here), is a decade old this year, and as the band embarks on re-recording some older tracks that were originally in English in their native language, they’re beginning next Friday (Feb. 19), with “Universum,” originally known as “Universe” on that first record.

So it’s a new single from an older track. I haven’t heard “Universum” yet — the cover art for it rules and can be seen below — but being familiar with Skraeckoedlan‘s general modus, it would be a remarkable surprise if the lyrics are the only change between “Universe” and “Universum.” As 2019’s Eorþe (review here) made plain, the band continue to develop new sonic ideas around their central heavy template, and it seems only reasonable to expect that will apply to these new recordings as well.

I don’t know how many tracks Skraeckoedlan have redone in this manner, if it’s one or two or they’ll be sprinkled throughout the year as the band presumably also eventually looks to return to the road, but this has been a group worth following for over 10 years now, and frankly, they’ve yet to steer wrong. I consider myself fortunate to have seen them live.

They announced the single thusly:

We have re-recorded a couple of old tunes that was released with english lyrics, but this time in swedish.

The first one ‘Universum’ will be released 2021-02-19. Can not wait to show you, they sound massive.

Recorded and produced by Erik Berglund at Massiv Musik

Art by Johan Leion at jleion.com

Out February 19 on all streaming platforms
Pre-save now: https://orcd.co/universum_

Skraeckoedlan:
Robert Lamu – Vocals/Guitar
Henrik Grüttner – Guitar
Erik Berggren – Bass
Martin Larsson – Drums

http://www.skraeckoedlan.com/
http://instagram.com/skraeckoedlan
https://www.facebook.com/SKRAECKOEDLAN/
https://www.facebook.com/thesignrecords/
http://www.thesignrecords.com

Skraeckoedlan, “Universum” teaser

Skraeckoedlan, “Universe” (2011)

Goodness gracious that’s some gorgeous album art for the new Vokonis record. The album has been in discussion since before it was even mentioned here last Spring, and I’ll just say that yes, I’ve heard it and it’s the most progressive work the Swedish three-piece have done yet, building on 2019’s Grasping Time (review here) even as it basks in heavier heavy. If you’ve followed the band’s evolution to this point — or, I guess, if you haven’t — they won’t disappoint. Plus, Per Wiberg‘s on it!

I assume that, were the circumstances different, Odyssey would have been released last Fall. Better late than never. Expect more to come on this one, one way or the other.

Till then, this from the PR wire:

Vokonis will release their fourth studio album ”Odyssey” May 7th 2021 via The Sign!

Vokonis will release their fourth studio album “Odyssey” in spring 2021. More dynamically diverse than ever, the 6 new tracks feature guest musician Per Wiberg (Opeth, Spiritual Beggars, Kamchatka) on Keyboard. Odyssey is Vokonis’ first true prog-record. A record for the new decade.

After the success of Vokonis’ critically acclaimed third album “Grasping Time” (2019), Vokonis immediately went into recording more material. With the goal set to further expand the prog landscape, Vokonis crafted recordings that are more dynamically diverse and forward-thinking than ever before. The result is “Odyssey”, the upcoming fourth studio album by Vokonis. Ranging from full-blown doom to melodically blissful passages, the new album features guest musician Per Wiberg (Opeth, Spiritual Beggars, Kamchatka) on Keyboard.

With tangible prog- influences combined with stand out choruses, the 6 tracks on “Odyssey” further explores the sound that Vokonis introduced on 2019’s “Grasping Time”. Jonte’s clean vocal lines are effectively blended with Simon’s aggressive bark, creating tons of depth as the sound shift from dreamy psychedelia to faze-melting sludge heaviness. The new tracks are backed up by the rhythmical patterns provided by the band’s new drummer Peter Ottosson who, since his affiliation in early 2019, has proved to be a spark plug of inspiration for the band.

“Odyssey” was recorded in Studio Soundport, Sweden, by Mikael Andersson. Mastered by Magnus Lindberg. The artwork for the album and its singles were made by Kyrre Bjurling (Grasping Time, Olde One Ascending Reissue). “Odyssey” will be released on The Sign Records on May 7, 2021. The album will be available on digital, vinyl, and CD format. Get ready.

Vokonis:
Simona Ohlsson – Guitar and Vocals
Jonte Johansson – Bass and Vocals
Peter Ottosson – Percussion – Drums

https://www.facebook.com/OfficialVokonis/
https://www.instagram.com/vokonisofficial/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/3DZoit5R0ahZQCNLbDnNxr?si=eh0iJ7YHQQOblw_ztadm1Q
https://www.facebook.com/thesignrecords/
http://www.thesignrecords.com

CB3 will release Aeons Live Session this Friday, Jan. 15, on The Sign Records. And first of all, what you see is what you get. Aeons Live Session. Well, okay. So parse it out. Burgeoning Swedish instrumentalists put out a full-length called Aeons (review here) last year, so this would pretty clearly be a recording of them playing songs from it live. And since it’s a ‘session’ instead of an ‘at’ or ‘in’ kind of live record, it’s clearly live in a studio setting. So there you go. It was Signalverket, in Malmö. Unable of course to play shows to support their LP released by The Sign Records, the trio of guitarist Charlotta Andersson — who, if we’re playing guessing games, one might wager is a Rush fan — bassist Pelle Lindsjö and drummer Natanael Salomonsson did what a lot of bands at various stages in their careers have done and recorded themselves playing live. There are videos to accompany and with Aeons Live Session, CB3 get a chance to air out three of the total five songs from the album in “Acid Haze” (12:15), “Sonic Blaze” (8:11) and “Warrior Queen” (7:36) for a total set of about 28 minutes.

But hold on. Wasn’t Aeons recorded live? Yeah, it was. I raised the issue when Aeons Live Session was announced and Salomonsson was kind enough to offer a bit of an explanation: “Regarding the recording live-part, you are correct that both were recorded live. A more apt description for this might have been ‘concert-form’ rather then live album, but it is what it is. The music and songs keep evolving as we play them and we like to consider each recording more of as a timestamp on where we are at the moment.”

He’s not wrong and he’s not exaggerating. I wouldn’t know, never having been so fortunate as to see the band — who are based in Malmö — live, but the songs are reshaped as they’re played here compared to what they were less than a year ago. “Acid Haze,” which is both opener and longest track (immediate points) becomes a side-A-consuming jam, its midsection stretched with an Andersson-led effects freakout that morphs from a likewise exploratory solo section. Listening to the ensuing shred, one is put in mind of Earthless, but there’s a progressive undercurrent as well in the use of effects from Andersson and Lindsjö, and that comes across as well in “Sonic Blaze” as the various melodic flourishes hint toward what vocals might do in those places, not quite forming words but setting the listener’s brain to the task of hearing them nonetheless.

And with a solid weight of distortion behind them, “Acid Haze” and “Sonic Blaze” — there’s something satisfying about that rhyme; put them together and you actually have a pretty apt description of CB3‘s sound and style; indeed they’re all about acid haze in terms of their heavy psychedelic and sonic blaze in terms of their ability to scorch with various effects and Andersson‘s lead work — offer no shortage of depth for listener immersion. But parts are also maintained to make the songs recognizable, such as the emergent chug in the second half of “Sonic Blaze” or the monolithic plod as “Acid Haze” returns from its jammier stretch.

Of the three inclusions, “Warrior Queen” is the closest to how it appeared on Aeons proper, but the organ-style melodic effects still manage to shimmer through its earlier heavier parts and the kind of manic rush as it moves toward its midpoint — a proggy freneticism that “Sonic Blaze” also tapped, suitably enough — and there are still spaces being explored that the original dared not tread, the band seemingly bolder in this live show-esque context, though it could also be a case of the rougher sound generally adding edge to their style. One way or the other, it works in the songs’ favor.

Each of CB3‘s to-date three studio offerings — Aeons, 2018’s From Nothing to Eternity (discussed here) and 2015’s CB3 — has had a companion live release. So in a way, Aeons Live Session is right on form, but it still manages to reveal a different side of the band, and more importantly, it demonstrates their ongoing evolution as players and as a unit. I would not be at all surprised if their next full-length pushed even further into prog-psych adventures, since what CB3 show most of all with Aeons Live Session is that it isn’t just the songs themselves that grow and change, but the chemistry of the band as well.

More PR wire/pressing info follows the stream of Aeons Live Session below.

Please enjoy:

CB3 released their second studio album Aeons in February 2020, right before the pandemic hit. The essence of the band is the live concert experience; every song becomes different and new, solos are improvised, and the intensity is ever-shifting. With limited opportunities for gigs, the band decided to capture the live experience on record, so that fans can experience the music the way it’s meant to be heard.

Aeons Live Sessions will be available on Youtube, streaming platforms, and as a limited edition 12” vinyl. Recorded live at Signalverket in Malmö, the tracks “Sonic Blaze,”, “Acid Haze,” and “Warrior Queen” add up to almost half an hour of intoxicating, instrumental jamming. Close your eyes, set your mind free, and drift away into the musical universe of CB3!

Aeons Live sessions will be released January 15 on The Sign Records on digital and 12? vinyl format. The physical release is limited to 300 copies.

CB3 are:
Charlotta Andersson – Electric Guitar
Pelle Lindsjö – Electric Bass
Natanael Salomonsson – Drums

CB3, “Sonic Blaze” from Aeons Live Session

CB3, Aeons (2020)

CB3 website

CB3 on Facebook

CB3 on Instagram

CB3 on Bandcamp

The Sign Records on Facebook

The Sign Records website

Let’s go ahead and make the rash assumption that CB3 are in their element on the upcoming Aeons Live Session. My first thought when I saw the news about the release: ‘Wait a second, Aeons (review here) wasn’t recorded live?’ Either way, the band’s work is based around improvisational conversation between the guitar, bass and drums, and it seems only natural that at a time when they can’t get on stage and offer that to an in-person audience, they might seek to at least do what they can to support the record that came out earlier this year. You might’ve noticed, they’re not the only ones taking such a course.

They’re underknown as yet, but I dig the vibe CB3 bring, and if you want to do the same, the video below for “Sonic Blaze” makes a compelling case toward doing so. You could do way, way, way worse with your time.

PR wire info follows, along with this badass cover art:

CB3 release first single from upcoming live album

CB3 (Charlottas Burning Trio) are set to release a live session album on The Sign Records early 2021. The album contains three tracks from the band‘s latest release “Aeons”, clocking in at 28 minutes of mind-bending and psychedelic cosmic jams. All three tracks are accompanied by live videos. The first single leading up to the live-album is called “Sonic Blaze (Live)” and is out now on all streaming platforms.

CB3 released their second studio album “Aeons” in February 2020, right before the pandemic hit. The essence of the band is the live concert experience – every song becomes different and new, solos are improvised and the intensity is ever-shifting. With limited opportunities for gigs, the band decided to capture the live experience on record, so that fans can experience the music the way it’s meant to.

Aeons Live Session is a video and music release, to be available on Youtube, streaming platforms and as a limited edition 12″ vinyl. It was recorded live recording at Signalverket in Malmö, Sweden, with three of the band‘s favorite songs from their latest full-length “Aeons”. The tracks, “Sonic Blaze”, “Acid Haze” and “Warrior Queen” ad up to almost half an hour of intoxicating, instrumental jamming. Close your eyes, set your mind free, and drift away into the musical universe of CB3!

Aeons Live sessions will be released January 15 on The Sign Records on digital and 12″ vinyl format. The physical release is limited to 300 copies.

CB3 are:
Charlotta Andersson – Electric Guitar
Pelle Lindsjö – Electric Bass
Natanael Salomonsson – Drums

www.charlottasburningtrio.com
https://www.facebook.com/charlottasburningtrio/
https://www.instagram.com/charlottasburningtrio/
https://cb3band.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/thesignrecords/
http://www.thesignrecords.com

CB3, “Sonic Blaze” from Aeons Live Session

My wife and I threw rock-paper-scissors in a best of three to decide which of us was going to put our son down for nap. She won. I had a run of victories that lasted for years but ever since then it’s been like the curse of the Bambino. I’m lucky if I make the playoffs.

But then I looked at my watch and saw it was 1:58PM and that in two minutes it would be time for Borås, Sweden, trio Vokonis to begin their live stream from Klubb Undergrunden in their hometown, and I called in the favor. Though she was plenty ready for a nap herself, the love of my life relented and took the kid upstairs to lie down.

A few minutes later, as Klubb Undergrunden Sessions II was underway with the progressive-heavy three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Simona Ohlsson, bassist/vocalist Jonte Johansson and drummer Peter Ottoson opening their relatively quick 27-minute set with the title-track of 2017’s The Sunken Djinn (review here), I got the call from upstairs.

He’d thrown up. Not uncommon but not unheard of; generally he’s not much of a puker, but of course timing is anything. As the band nestled into the stomp of the verse in “The Sunken Djinn,” with Ohlsson and Johansson sharing vocal duties as they’ve done more and more effectively since making their debut with 2016’s Olde One Ascending (review here), I hit pause, grabbed some paper towels, and went to assess the damage.

It wasn’t so bad, and soon enough, I was back in front of the television, watching the multi-camera, pro-sound, pro-lighting cast of the trio playing “Grasping Time” off of 2019’s Grasping Time (review here) as I seemed to be doing so myself, but it goes to the ongoing discussion of how music and especially the experience of live music interacts with the rest of our lives in this pandemic era.

Having recently experienced a socially-distant live performance for direct comparison, I’ll say that the simple act of having to leave one’s house makes a huge difference.

I’ve never lived in a major city or particularly close to any relevant venues, so I’m fairly used to traveling for shows, but I would think if you were down the block from your favorite concert hall, the same would still apply. You have to pull yourself out of your own space to see a show (unless you own the venue, in which case, congratulations to you on living my dream) in a way that, watching a COVID-born stream, the whole point is to not.

When you’re at a show, you’re not thinking about doing the dishes. You’re not throwing pillowcases in the laundry. You’re not taking the fucking dog out for the 15th time because she has the world’s most expensive UTI and will invariably piss all over everything if you don’t. Even if you’re the type to text or engage social media while out and about — and by “type,” mostly at this point I think I mean “human” — you’re physically somewhere else.

Vokonis played five songs in this — again — fairly brief mini-gig, with “The Sunken Djinn” and “Grasping Time” giving way to “Antler Queen” and “I Hear the Siren,” before closing out with the quick energy burst of “Exiled”; the latter three tracks all from Grasping Time as well, which is unmistakably the band’s best work made public to-date, though as Ohlsson noted in April, their next offering is already well in progress.

I would imagine that, as different as it is for the audience of a stream, it’s no less a new world for the performers involved. Of course, in a shoot like this one there are other people in the room, working lights, the live mix and camera direction, but that’s hardly the same as a boozy crowd come to see a good show. Still, Ohlsson, Johansson and Ottoson were able to get into the spirit, headbanging a bit while issuing forth through a series of proggy turns and adrenaline-fueled hooks.

They have worked relatively quickly over the last several years to grow beyond the influences that sparked their earliest efforts — and that work has been successful — and even though Ottoson didn’t appear on Grasping Time, the dynamic between the trio came across as that of a band whose evolution was serving a greater aesthetic purpose. A band who, in stylistic terms, are going somewhere and exploring new ideas.

And so they are. “Exiled” capped with a quick “tack” from Ohlsson and it was over. My wife long since gone for her own nap, The Pecan upstairs, blowing one off but playing peacefully enough, I disconnected the stream, turned off the tv and sat for a minute to process. I’ve never seen Vokonis live — a planned trip to Esbjerg Fuzztival this year would’ve been the first time — and I came away from the stream feeling like my experience of it was afflicted by the rest of what was going on.

But here’s the thing with the stream: As the house had finally settled down — even the dog was in her crate — I happened to have another 27 minutes at my disposal. Not something that happens every day. So I just put it on, on my laptop this time, and watched Vokonis kill it once again so I didn’t come away feeling like I’d missed anything.

That’s something that, were I pulled away from an in-person show by some domestic consideration — it’s happened before; you get bad news, etc. — I wouldn’t have been able to do. Everything has its ups and downs. And in a time that seems perpetually to find new lows, I’ll take every 27 minutes of positivity I can get.

The stream is still up and you can see it below. Thanks for reading.

Vokonis on Thee Facebooks

Vokonis on Instagram

Vokonis on Bandcamp

The Sign Records on Thee Facebooks

The Sign Records website

Progressive fuzz heavy hitters Skraeckoedlan originally released their second album, Sagor (review here), in 2015, and it was something of a special moment for the band. Foremost, it was a chance for them to prove decisively that their 2011 debut, Äppelträdet (review here), was no fluke, and further, it was a moment that allowed them to reach a wider audience by releasing through Razzia Records in their native Sweden. I guess it went well — they’re still a band, and they’ve only garnered more notoriety over the last five years since Sagor came out, touring and last year releasing the follow-up LP, Eorþe (review here) through Fuzzorama. Fair enough they might want to revisit that time, and The Sign Records, which previously reissued the first album in 2018 and is also doing another pressing, obliges with a subsequent Sagor LP reissue.

“Doomedag” as I understand it was a bonus cut on the original LP pressing of Sagor that’s never been digitally released before. The only version of it I could find anywhere was a live show from 2017, and while that looked like good fun, with the band in a small venue packed onto a stage, headbanging and all that kind of thing, it’s hardly the most representative of the track itself. All the better then, that here, on the day Sagor is being reissued — and that new pressing of Äppelträdet as well — comes a video for the studio version of “Doomedag”; something that hasn’t appeared online before to support an album initially put out five years ago. You’d almost think these things were planned in advance.

But anyhoozle, you’re gonna dig the track, which is on the shorter and less epic end of Skraeckoedlan‘s sound and has some pretty awesome push behind it from the drums. Plus the single has the art above, and that alone is worth the price of admission, which if you’re keeping up, is nothing. This premiere kind of came in last-minute, but hell, I dig the band and I dug Sagor when it came out, and I’ve legitimately never heard this song before, so I’ll take it. Doesn’t need to be any more complicated than that, really.

Enjoy the video:

Skraeckoedlan, “Doomedag” official video premiere

On Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/2aw0r5p6kOlpqWUE9HG84p

The Sign Records 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 today.

“Mountains. Colossal peaks stretch past the darkened clouds and further into the cosmos. In the leviathan’s towering shadow the landscape is left black, like the uncertainty of eternity. Only a pulse remains. A barely noticeable but steadily growing sensation, a promise of direction in the fangs of darkness. Through the dream we escape time, to the brink of infinity where love thrives.”

To celebrate the 5 year anniversary of their album Sagor, Skraeckoedlan is now releasing a song that previously only was to find as a bonus track on the original print of the vinyl. The song is called Doomedag, and is a song about finding yourself, to always look ahead and not to be scared about the unknown. The album was recorded in numerous studios with different technicians and producers during a two year period. The band collaborated with Daniel Bergstrand (In Flames, Meshuggah, El Caco) and Niklas Berglöf (Ghost) among others.

The artwork has been made by Johan Leion, who also designed the debut album, Äppelträdet.

Order the vinyl: https://freighttrain.se/skraeckoedlan-_-sagor-dlp/

“Sagor” will be available in 1000 copies of colored, 180g gatefold double LP. Besides the re-release of “Sagor”, The Sign Records will also release a new pressing of Skraeckoedlan’s debut album “Äppelträdet” in 500 copies of 180g purple vinyl.

Skraeckoedlan:
Robert Lamu – Vocals/Guitar
Henrik Grüttner – Guitar
Erik Berggren – Bass
Martin Larsson – Drums

Skraeckoedlan’s website

Skraeckoedlan on Instagram

Skraeckoedlan on Thee Facebooks

The Sign Records on Thee Facebooks

The Sign Records website