MALSTEN ~ THE HAUNTING OF SILVAKRA MILL - RITES OF PASSAGE .... review

July 2020 saw Swedish outfit Malsten release "The Haunting of Silv​å​kra Mill" a scintillating concept album telling of an ancient evil emanating from an old abandoned mill, it was an album we at Desert Psychlist described as being "like listening to the musical equivalent of a horror story told around the flickering flames of a campfire". Things went a bit quiet for a while after the release of this doomic masterpiece until in 2022 when Malsten released "Entr'acte" a single track intended to serve as a bridging piece between the first chapter and the next instalment of the Silv​å​kra Mill story, it seemed that the campfire we mentioned was still burning and an unfinished tale was still waiting to reach its conclusion. That next instalment has now arrived in the shape of "The Haunting of Silv​å​kra Mill - Rites of Passage" (Svart Records) so lets hunker down, make ourselves comfortable and let Malsten continue their tale.

Opening song "Path of the Nix" opens with melancholy strings then erupts into a slow dank dark doomic refrain, driven by pounding percussion, over which strong clean but mournful vocals tell of Silv​å​kra's wearied preacher continuing his hunt for the killer that slipped through his fingers at the end of the first album, The song boasts an almost touchable atmospheric, the preachers confusion, frustration and fear perfectly captured not only in the songs lyrics but also in its slowly building musical dynamic. "Larum" follows and sees our preacher still following the path he has set out for himself but at the same time starting to experience a strange darkness calling out to him, the ancient evil emanating from the cursed mill infiltrating his thoughts much like it did the murderous miller he hunts, this all set to a backdrop of some of the dankest and most menacing doom you are likely to hear this side of Armageddon. Parping church-like organ and a lone vocal make up "Intercession" a brief piece that sees our preacher making a plea/prayer to his god for some sort of intervention against the darkness that is slowly enveloping him. Next song "Terra Inferna" builds its part up slowly, its initial post-rock textures taking on a more malevolent dynamic as the song evolves, that dynamic easing off slightly when the vocals make an appearance but nevertheless remaining in the air throughout the songs duration. Next up is "Ceremony" a sombre lament sang in melancholy tones against a backdrop of sparse piano and synth generated strings that then segues into final song "Laurenti Berth" a song that marks the confrontation between hunter and hunted but twists the songs narrative so that it becomes unclear who is which, the musical backdrop accompanying this final confrontation a mix of sinister spacious post-metal and sprawling heavy doom boasting a vocal that ranges from unsettling semi-crooned narration to impassioned gothic howling, spine chilling stuff! 

Malsten, much like their fellow Swedes Cavern Deep, love to tell a story over a series of releases and much like Cavern Deep they try not to overcomplicate things, preferring instead to lay out their musical tale like a novel with a beginning a middle and an end, leaving some things for the listener to work out for themselves but on the whole keeping things nice and straightforward. It is this old fashioned style of story telling, delivered without going off on convoluted tangents, that makes "The Haunting of Silv​å​kra Mill - Rites of Passage" such an engrossing listen not only as a chapter in the whole Silv​å​kra Mill saga but also as a stand alone album in its own right. 

Check it out ... 

© 2024 Frazer Jones