Having been veterans of the UK underground for well over a decade now, to see Svalbard slowly but surely rising through the ranks and gaining greater momentum from album to album has been joyful. Their highly emotive and relatable lyricism paired with their unique sound, blending post-hardcore, black metal and post-rock/metal winning fans over up and down the country along with their stellar live performances. Dropping their 2020 album When I Die, Will I Get Better? under turbulent circumstances still saw the band fielding an offer from and inevitably signing to Nuclear Blast Records. Turning their focus inwards on internal strife, new album The Weight Of The Mask is a candid display of inner turmoil and attempts to cope with decaying mental health.
Kicking things off in grand fashion with “Faking It”, the lead single released alongside news of the album, laying forth everything that Svalbard’s fans have come to expect. Intricate, shimmering melodies over dramatic and emotional chord progressions before breaking into the blackened post-hardcore we’ve all come to love. Vocalist and lead guitarist Serena Cherry’s lyricism hits brutally honest from the first flag, encapsulating the themes of juxtaposition in the album perfectly. “Faking It” conceptually explores the realisation that you’re so deep into a depression that you no longer recognise yourself, you’re “Faking It” just to get by every day, putting on a mask to face the day and slowly, but surely, noticing the weight it carries. Immediately following is “Eternal Spirits”, released all the way back in February, a touching tribute to musicians and heroes lost too soon in the alternative world. Tragic melodies are strewn throughout, vocalist and rhythm guitarist Liam Phelan’s additional violin parts add to the sorrowful atmosphere as well as Serena’s delicate clean vocal work punctuating the emotion.
The most notable difference between The Weight Of The Mask and previous releases is the intricate melodic focus and prevalence of clean vocal performances. “Defiance” effectively ticks both these boxes at the same time, opening with an enormous melodic hook that will continue to stay with you long past the songs close, breaking into a furious black metal shred with Serena’s clean singing contrasting the intensity in the instrumental underneath. Similarly, the bleak and cold opening of “November” opposing the abject fury that came before, awash in reverb drenched instrumentation with spoken word vocals and establishing a mood that may not be as overt in its sonic “heaviness”, but is heavy in atmosphere. The levy finally breaks and music reflects the initial atmosphere sculpted for a painful and cathartic journey through bleak lands making for one of the standout tracks on the album.
As with the rest of their discography, Svalbard once again work with producer Lewis Johns (Employed To Serve, Rolo Tomassi, Ithaca), their continued relationship paying off in full as this is absolutely the best production their collaboration has yielded so far. All of the instrumentation sounds better than ever, the guitar captures sounds clean whether atmospheric lead tones or crushing distortion. Alongside Mark Lilley’s, as always, skilful drumming ranging from restrained beats to furious double kick and blast beats, bassist Matt Francis’ driving and melodic bass lines add a layer of warmth bolstering the variance of guitar tones without taking away from the drums’ punch. The heavier vocal deliveries of Liam’s hardcore influenced shouts and Serena’s more metal leaning growls sound as raw and cutting as usual, opposed by the capture of Serena’s cleaning singing, sounding rather fragile yet powerful in their presentation. Even the additional instrumentation layers go a long way, Liam’s violin parts on “Eternal Spirits” and “How To Swim Down” sounding soulful and the use of synthesiser pads on tracks such as “Faking It” and “Lights Out”, as well as several others, thickening the textures and adding more weight to the chords supporting the melodies.
The pilgrimage from “Lights Out”, through “How To Swim Down” into “Be My Tomb” is an emotional experience. “Lights Out” succumbing to the emotional weight it builds upon itself, the defeated cries of “I am too depressed to show you how depressed I am” accenting the journey through emotionally charged instrumentals, reaching a post-rock climax and seamlessly flowing into “How To Swim Down”. The final single before release and arguably the closest the band has come so far to writing a true post-rock epic. Accompanied by a suitably heart-wrenching animated video; the soft sung, clean vocals are here to stay for the song’s length, an emotional dirge of unrequited love that brings tears to your eyes. The uplifting emotional punch of the lead melody at the start of “Be My Tomb” almost straps a rocket to your back, pulling you back from the sombre depths conjured before into a high-pace, emotional hook for one of the most memorable moments on the album.
“Pillar In The Sand” starts off rather intimate and soft, adding further layers and anticipation as the instrumental swells and breaks into and emotional furore. The emotional melodies sitting atop double kick “To Wilt Beneath The Weight” bookends the album in similar fashion to opening track “Faking It”, feeling like everything you would want from a Svalbard album closer. Angular guitar chords and pummelling percussion breaking into d-beat, atmospheric tremolo leads and anthemic dual vocals.
What Svalbard have crafted with The Weight Of The Mask is truly exceptional. Perfecting the alchemical brew of musical styles they’ve toyed with in the past, smoothly mixing them across individual songs as well as the album as a whole and employing their most honest and heartbreakingly relatable lyricism to date. The push and pull juxtaposition between soft ambient passages and passionate explosions of ferocity across the album and even individual songs allows for a spellbinding journey. Anyone who may have suffered from mental health difficulties in their life will feel a strong connection here, leading to cathartic art for not only the band, but the listeners as well.