Entry 1530 - Shagor - Lyksalver

Style: black metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: Darkness is everywhere, instead of fighting it why not embrace it

Thoughts: I bought this album without listening to it. The debut from this band was so strong I didn't feel like I even needed to vet this release before owning it. That may have been a misstep on my part.

The debut from these guys was full of killer riffs, dense atmospheres, and a deep vitriol in nearly every note and word spoken. Nothing original or that I hadn't heard before, but it was so well done I had to give it it's due. It was a breath of fresh air in a saturated black metal field.

The follow up is none of that. The riffs are derivative, the atmosphere is lacking, and all the venom and hatred from the debut is absent here. What on earth happened? I'm not sure but I do know that I don't like this album nearly as much as the debut.

I've often heard that the criterion for a middling album is if you would prefer to listen to silence or the album that you are currently listening to. With that in mind Lyksalver is just barely above a middling album. It's slightly better than silence, but not much. The album is simply generic black metal with none of the spunk or fire that made the debut so enjoyable. 

The riffs repeat too long and don't really have any sort of intensity or urgency. The vocals are a longing howl or cleanish shout throughout the album. They fit the music but again, there is no passion in them. The bass and drums do exactly what you would expect them to do, nothing more, nothing less. It really feels like the band wanted to release new material but simply couldn't bring themselves to put any effort into the release.

The real damning part here is that there are a few fleeting moments when the band shows the fire and atmosphere that I would expect from them based on the debut. Those moments are for a fleeting few minutes through the release - maybe ten percent at best. It's a damn shame because it shows me that the band still has it in them... they just seem to have lost their way.

Shagor is now on the precipice of a choice. They can continue in the direction that they have been on Lyksalver and completely lose themselves to mediocrity. Or they can reignite that fire and bring back that venom and hatred from the debut that made it so damn good. We'll see where their third release will end up, but as it is their second is likely not going to get many spins from me in the future.