Reviews list for Skuggor - Where Sun Resigns (2025)

Residing in a cold and yet familiar place somewhere between the ambient trappings of Burzum and the more medieval grandeur of Satyricon, Skuggor wears many influences on his sleeve throughout his third album, which is my first experience of the Australian who now resides in Sweden. Those deep, chiming notes that punctuate opening track ‘Writhe’ immediately resonate through the dark emptiness of the atmosphere of the record. Those ghastly vocals maraud and worry the listener with a menacing sense of triumph.

Things take an immediately more melodic turn on the appropriately named ‘Meditations Upon the Roots of Infinity’. A more laid back, slower tempo is embraced on this one giving a contemplative nature to the sound. The drums threaten disruption, but never quite get there. Appearing as almost ritualistic behind the thrusting notes of the guitar and the light synths that accompany them. After just two tracks it is clear why Where Sun Resigns caught my attention so quickly. There is depth and variety here, with a record that still sticks to the core black metal aesthetic. There is a balance to things, a level of control applied that shows maturity.

The man behind Skuggor (Matthew Bell) is active in a lot of other projects it seems. Ranging from dungeon synth to post-metal/post-rock, from atmo-black to thrash metal as well as funeral doom, folk metal, avant garde and symphonic melo-death metal, it is safe to say that Mr Bell has quite the repertoire to play with. The danger would be for the fusion of all those elements across the wide selection of bands, projects and collaborations he is involved in to permeate into one horrible mish mash of styles. However, as I note above, there is a firm hand on the tiller in Skuggor and having set his stall out early on, he sticks to the classic sounds referenced earlier on in the review.

There’s an overall sense of calm that I get from this record. Even in the more urgent moments it never quite sets the pulse racing. This is well executed black metal that knows the content it wants to project and focuses on delivering that to a high standard. ‘For Every Wound A Hymn of Growth’ is the longest track on here, but it stands out for its clever arrangement as opposed to just its actual length being the only thing of note. The nastiness still comes through though, mostly as a by-product of the vocals as I said. But the evil in the album is framed in this dark ambience so well that it somehow emphasises it almost organically.