“Nothing can pierce through an armour this tough.”
Svalbard merge the ethereal and pummelling nature of black metal with post-hardcore beatdowns. They’re particularly known for direct lyrics, rare in the former genre but common in the latter, helping them to stand out from the burgeoning blackgaze movement we’re living through. If you’ve seen Svalbard live (hard not to if you’re based in the UK) you’ll know they’re music nerds that are delighted to be on every stage they get to, including some recent big ones like ArcTanGent and a Mono support slot. For their 2023 release The Weight of the Mask they’ve graduated to an even larger stage with Nuclear Blast, and have produced their best record in the process.
Svalbard has never relied on choruses to reel you in, but there are plenty of earworms to be found on The Weight of the Mask, both vocal and instrumental. Opener “Faking It” has catchy riffs and vocal turns (“The question repeats and repeats…”). It builds incredibly towards its finale, showcasing Svalbard’s expert songwriting skills that will keep you agog till they sing “I don’t feel hope, I just fake it / Nothing is sacred”.
Another immediate classic in the record is “Defiance”, almost the band’s longest track, balancing clean and harsh vocals that weave toward another titanic finale. I particularly applaud the record’s second half from “Lights Out” onwards, where each track is truly the height of their career, all the way to the excellent closer “To Wilt Beneath the Weight”.
The key theme of the record is living with depression. Vocal duties are now particularly balanced between Serena Cherry and Liam Phelan, making the album’s stories very shared. The theme is strongly presented on opener “Faking It”, and the album title is dropped during “Lights Out” clarifying its meaning as a metaphor for the effort it takes to hide depression in day to day life (“I am too depressed to show you how depressed I am”).
“Defiance” is a personal affirmation to keep going in the face of failure (“All I can do is keep on fighting / for every rejection, for every dismissal / for every time I was told I’m not welcome”). “November” continues this theme (“Nothing can pierce through an armour this tough”). The earliest single “Eternal Spirits” is a lyrical tribute to inspirational musicians who have passed on, but it’s no country song – it’s possibly their most circle-pit inducing track yet.
Having spent a lot of time with Svalbard’s studio material and live events over the past year, I was hoping that The Weight of the Mask would be a bolder change in their sound. I’m delighted to have been wrong, as Svalbard have won me over with their classic approach to blackened hardcore. “How to Swim Down” is a particularly special track as it’s the band’s first with only clean vocals – finally, a Svalbard song you can show your mum! Besides an early lull with the whispered vocals on “November”, which the second half of the song makes up for, only good decisions have been made on The Weight of the Mask. Long live these Bristol champions.
9/10
The Weight of the Mask releases through Nuclear Blast Records this Friday 6th October. You can pre-order the album here.