Enter The Otherworldly Sound of Malsten
Cover artwork by Krister Kâm Tayanin
The record opens up like a slowly unfurling blanket of irradiated sound, gradually strumming a discernible rhythm and bursting with blasts of low-end bass, and finally erupting in lumbering swagger. A somber, monotone voice establishes the mood, carrying the narrative along in monastic song. This is "Torsion," the act of being twisted "especially of one end of an object relative to the other." As the track evolves, the riff itself begins to feel like it is twisting around us tighter, one slow repeated layer at a time. The dirge has done its work.
Welcome to the misshapen, controted world of MALSTEN. The quartet from Malmö feel the doom inside and out like few newer bands I've encountered. It's one thing to play slow 'n' low; quite another to do so from a place of utter feeling and conviction.
One has to almost enter a trancelike state (if not give over fully to it) in order to achieve the otherworldliness of "Immolation." This is, after all, 'The Haunting of Silvåkra Mill' (2020) and Malsten's debut full-length is replete with such uncanny moments. None of them are out-and-out frightening. This isn't about quick, dirty thrills or jump scares, for a true haunting must have a "lived in" feel.
The record on a whole is incredibly reassuring given its subject matter. Dour, yes; abyssal, almost certainly. Yet Manne Högström's vocals are quite anchoring in the middle of this odd ghostly world. The nearest parallel that hops to mind is Tom Vane from the Enlgish band Famyne, who is a kindred spirit in his vocal approach.
"Grinder" carries the lamentation along as our slowly shifting soundscape transports us through a long, surreal night of the soul. The fuzz-drenched bass is so tuned down that it grinds rhythmically like a pepper shaker, though I'm certain this is coincidental to the song's title.
"Compunction" brings the conversation to a finish, as the longest and most powerfully constructed song of the record. The album's dreamlike quality continues to be felt (with a nebulous interlude reminding us that time can stand still any time it desires), but there's a greater sense that we are advancing forward with some real momentum. Perhaps it is less to free ourselves from the situation as it is to give voice to the spirits seeking recourse. The final two-and-a-half minutes are nothing if not cathartic
The whole experience has a very episodic, balladic feel to it -- as though we'd tapped into the great storytellers of Scandanavian lore. Look for Malsten's The Haunting of Silvåkra Mill to be released this Friday, July 24th via Interstellar Smoke Records (pre-order here). Until then, you can hear the record streaming in full via Doomed & Stoned!
The Haunting of Silvåkra Mill by Malsten
