VattnetViskarI don’t know what Vattnet Viskar is supposed to mean if anything but I do know where they’re from. This trio of musicians from the USA plunge us into dark atmospheres from the outset of this album, the follow-up to their debut self-titled EP. I heard something of Agalloch in this. After a very long blackened and throaty section, the drum leads us into hints of post metal, culminating in a controlled break-out. Quiet reflection marks the start of “Fog of Apathy”. Like “New Alchemy” before it, it bursts out and sinks back again into more quiet and uncertain reflection. It’s interesting but didn’t carry me away, leaving me in no man’s land with its lack of conclusion. The rock steady beat of the drum then takes over, matching the ring of the guitar as “Monarch” builds up in post-metal style. There is movement but it all turns out to be a bit of a 70 second non-event. Let’s have another go, shall we? Cymbals clash on “Breath of the Almighty”. The slow and patient progress picks up but much like everything else, it experiments a little and goes essentially nowhere. After an off-key and mournful interlude, the silence is broken. There is an eruption of sound and fire. Vattnet Viskar lurch from one mood to another without apparent reason. “Mythos” is hard and heavy, however and has balls. There’s intensity in the darkness here. This is good. After a break, the battery recommences and a repetitive ringing and crunching follows but there’s no end game in sight. In fact I would liken the end of “Mythos” the unremarkable event of a train arriving at its destination station. A harpsichord-like sound of a clock makes for an atmospheric beginning of “As I Stared into the Sky” but that’s it as it’s another 90 second interlude which shows promise but no outcome. It does as least lead into “Apex”. For the first time since the album started there is the feel of epic emotion. Growled lyrics and dark ringing tones send a shiver down the spine, a sensation which has been missing. It’s bleak and doesn’t move on. In fact it nearly grinds to a halt as the album ends monotonously.

This album is undoubtedly dark and atmospheric, and is black in its roots, but I did not find that all the ideas fitted together. It could be powerful and got better for me with each listen, but I still concluded that “Sky Swallower” is not the finished article and there is something much bigger to come from Vattnet Viskar.

(6/10 Andrew Doherty)

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