I must admit that when I first heard the news about a new Scald album, I was quite skeptical. Sure, the cult epic doom outfit had, against all odds, awaken from a 20+ year dormancy to take on the euro festival circuit. A brand new full length offering? That’s another conquest altogether. All things considered, in an era where bands soldier on with two, one, or even zero original band members (looking at you Molly Hatchet), Scald are far from what one would consider to be “offenders” in this category. Their current lineup consists of all surviving members of their classic Will of Gods Is a Great Power (1997) era. In place of their dearly departed frontman, Agyl, is multi-instrumentalist Felipe Plaza Kutzbach of Procession, Nifelheim, and Deströyer 666 infamy.
Ideally, this would be a match made in Valhalla. Procession are amongst a crop of epic doom bands who owe a great debt to Scald, so Kutzbach’s inclusion in a Scald reboot feels like a symbolic passing of the torch. As I’ve stated above, there’s no denying his ability as a singer, having already proven himself by tackling Scald’s ancient hymns onstage. However, the question remained: Would this live magic translate in the studio? It had only been over a quarter of a century since these musicians last wrote, recorded, and performed new music together under the moniker of “Scald”. Well my fellow headbangers, we now have our answer in the form of Scald’s once unthinkable sophomore album, Ancient Doom Metal.
Any doubts I had leading up to Ancient Doom Metal‘s release immediately vanished within the first 30 seconds of the opening title track. The ancient gods had arisen from their crypt, as if no time past at all with a beautifully epic, colossal slab of viking doom. This grandiose display of metallic valor sets the tone for the entire album going forward. Sure, the production is spiffier than it was in ’97, and Kutzbach isn’t an exact doppelganger for Agyl. That said, the production doesn’t take away from the music’s impact and Kutzbach’s dramatic, borderline operatic vocal delivery melds extremely well with Scald’s ever compelling metal.
To say Ancient Doom Metal is an intense head trip of an album is an understatement. The unrelentingly mammoth riffs on cuts like “Young God Resurrected” and “The Liberating Spells of Fire” are only overshadowed by the grandiosity of the compositions themselves, each boasting their own uniquely vast atmosphere. Standing equally as tall are ambitious suites like “Master of the Lake” and “Far Northern Corner”, that ever so gracefully blur the line between power balladry and viking hymns with its tale of yesteryear’s gods. One can’t help but lose themselves in the unpredictable twists and turns of the riffs, hooks, melodies, lyrics, and aura. Much like Will of Gods before it, these aren’t merely songs; these are metal monoliths.
As the closing “The Enemy Among Us” takes us for one final voyage, the power of the aptly titled Ancient Doom Metal begins to resonate within, leaving us utterly speechless, save for these 500+ words I was able to muster up. Alongside Deep Purple’s Perfect Strangers, Celtic Frost’s Monotheist, and Cirith Ungol’s Forever Black to name but only a few, Ancient Doom Metal is bound to go down in history as one of the greatest metal comebacks of all time, equally as transfixing as the legacy Scald was built upon. Indeed, the will of gods IS great power, and their will is for Scald to reign supreme yet again. Thank Odin!
10 out of 10
Label: High Roller Records
Genre: Epic Doom Metal
For fans of: Bathory, Candlemass, Atlantean Kodex