MALSTEN
MALSTEN “The Haunting of Silvåkra Mill—Rites of Passage”
By Dr. Abner Mality
MALSTEN is a Swedish epic doom metal group in the classic tradition. I half expected to see them wearing monk’s robes in their press photos. The album is the second dealing with a horror concept where an unlucky character becomes possessed by the demonic force in an empty mill. Pass the cross, Father McNeil!!
Few albums I’ve heard recently start with as much promise as this one. “Path of the Nix” is a gorgeous example of epic doom in the style of CANDLEMASS and SOLITUDE AETURNUS. The riffing is absolutely MASSIVE but the melodic vocals are almost a dead ringer for SOLITUDE’s Robert Lowe. Honestly, this had me enraptured from the jump, but unfortunately, it is by far the best track here.
“Larum” is longer and slower, almost ridiculously basic with its major riff but it has a very hypnotic effect as the repetition worms its way into your brain. The vocals become a syrupy drone here, beckoning you further into the musical quicksand. “Intercession” is a brief but potent track that leads into “Terra Inferna”, which is more subtle and creepy. It takes a while to get going but when it does, it could ram through a brick wall. Simple but effective.
After that, we get a piano-based ballad “Ceremony” and final cut “Laurenti Berth”, which unfortunately lets the album down hard. They try the slow build of tension with this one, too, but it’s boring almost in a TOOL way and takes way, WAY too long to reach maximum impact. In the last third, things pick up strongly and nicely, but it takes too long to reach this point. If the album had ended on a note as strong as “Path of the Nix”, this would be an awesome album.
Still, I do recommend this to fans of classic doom and KING DIAMOND-like concept albums. MALSTEN was an unknown going into this, but they sure won’t be in the future.