Litha MMIX

This EP from Skagos includes two tracks from their first album "Ast" so if listeners have that recording already, they probably don't need the EP as there's only one other track on it and it's the shortest of the three that make up "Litha MMIX". The short recording might be an ideal introduction for those new to Skagos or who are having problems getting "Ast".

Opening track "Blossoms will sprout from the Carcass", a meditation on the cycle of life and death, is a very straight-ahead raw black metal track with hoarse raspy singing, a driving buzz rhythm that together with choral voices power much of the song and lively percussion. As the song progresses, the black metal aspects fade into an experimental acoustic phase of a cappella singing and droning. From then on, the song alternates between black metal and atmospheric acoustic music.

The second track is a cover of a song by Wolves in the Throne Room (from that band's "Two Hunters" album) with a different title, and is not very different from the original in basic structure, melody and riffing. It's well executed but I sometimes wish Skagos had put more of an individual stamp on it. Final track "A Night that Ends, as all Nights End, when the Sun rises" really picks up where "Blossoms ..." left off: this is a moody fusion BM / melodic post-metal ballad piece with a long pensive acoustic guitar introduction and exaggerated vibrato rhythm guitar. The musicians wrap up with punchy BM at a fast pace to finish with a sound recording of a crackling camp-fire.

My opinion is the cover didn't add anything new or special to the EP and the two songs could have survived on their own or, better still, had an original Skagos track not on "Ast" accompany them. I haven't heard the "Ast" as of this time of writing so I can't comment whether the songs lifted from that album are much the same or are performed in a different way; you'd hope for the latter of course. As it is, this is not an essential recording for Skagos fans to have. For others, this might be a safe introduction to the band: the music is very much in the realm of black metal mixed with more melodic rock elements and has just enough variety and experimentation to interest fence-sitters without frightening them away.