(written by Islander)
It seems to have become a tradition at our site to spread the dark word of the Swedish black metal band Scitalis: In 2021 we premiered their 2021 debut EP Awakening (and what an awakening its was!). In the following year we then premiered a song from their debut album Doomed Before Time. In 2023 we also premiered their stand-alone single “Thy Offering,” which was the work of a revised lineup. And now…
…and now we’re helping Vendetta Records announce a new Scitalis album, which has been set for release on January 24th. Entitled Maledictum, it is described as “a haunting exploration of despair and wrath inspired by Sweden’s witch trials during ‘Det stora oväsendet’ (1668–1676).” Once again, today we’re also hosting a song premiere from the new record. Accompanied by a gripping video, its name is “Suffering“.
According to this source, Sweden had fewer witch trials compared to other countries in Europe, but still about four hundred people were executed for witchcraft prior to the last case in 1704. “Most of these cases (circa 280) occurred during a short but intense period; the eight years between 1668 and 1676, when the witch hysteria called Det stora oväsendet (“The Great Noise”) took place….”
Undoubtedly, there was suffering, and in the song you’re about to hear Scitalis render it with tremendous intensity, through wildly roiling riffage that burns, through ferociously blasting drums and magma-like bass tones, through unbridled screams of torment and fury. The music seems to capture both the agonies of the innocent and the contemptible religious hysteria that produced them.
The music whips and veers like a sonic typhoon at full force, laced with piercing flashes of rapidly writhing fretwork and driven by stirring rhythmic tumult. When the full-throttle propulsion finally slows, the riffing continues to churn but becomes more dismal and degraded, and then the storm breaks open again — the sound burning and boiling, augmented by both hyper-speed drum fills and steady beats, and by a shining solo that wails and spirals upward with riveting effect.
The breathtaking intensity of the music never really relents, but ultimately becomes even more sweeping, and certainly the terrorizing effect of the vocals remains constant. The song is a striking sign of the band’s return, and a powerhouse introduction to the music of Maledictum.
Today Vendetta and the band will begin pre-orders for Maledictum on all formats — LP vinyl, CD, and digital (see the links below). They feature cover art by Misanthropic-Art.
As mentioned, the album will be released on January 24th. On that same evening Scitalis will take the stage in Umeå for a release gig together with Ciemra and Bewitched (info about that can be found here).
VENDETTA:
https://linktr.ee/vendettarecs
SCITALIS:
https://www.instagram.com/scitalisofficial/
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100060438775598
https://scitalis.bandcamp.com/
