(written by Islander)
With just a couple of weeks left in the year we still have time to make 2024 the third year in a row when we’ve premiered a song for the Dutch black metal band Schavot, the solo project work of multi-instrumentalist Floris Velthuis, who is also a member of Asgrauw, Meslamtaea, and Sagenland.
It’s fair to say, as Floris has himself acknowledged, that nostalgia is a significant inspiration for Schavot‘s music. He has been active in black metal since the ’90s, and a nostalgia for the Scandinavian black metal he grew up with gave birth to the Schavot project. Beyond that, his lyrics have been inspired by “the twilight world of the past” — by old Dutch folk tales and history.
And so, in both respects, Schavot‘s music could be considered a journey into the past. Yet as people know who’ve already encountered Schavot‘s previous releases, including the first two albums (Galgenbrok and Kronieken uit de nevel) and the excellent 2023 split Verloren vertellingen, the music is far from the kind of dull wistfulness that nostalgia can sometimes produce.
Today’s premiere underscores that point. The name of the song is “De lantaarn spreekt de weg,” and it’s from a new Schavot album named Verstrikt in halflicht that we’re happily helping announce today in advance of its February 27 release by Void Wanderer Productions and War Productions. Continue reading »
