Wilytank Five years after 'Farmakon', here comes Skepticism again with another release. In 'Farmakon' I was somewhat turned off by how the keyboards tried to dominate the music in places. Here in 'Alloy', the guitar production has been improved to compensate to make this a much better album. And when I say much better, I mean really.

Arriving at "The Arrival", the guitar is more prominent than the organ keyboards. The vocals are also less low sounding and less monotone. Kind of a shock at first, but I've gotten used to it. Another interesting shocker is that this is an organ based song; and whenever Skepticism does one of these, it's usually scary sounding. However, this song is downright melancholic regardless of how clean the production sounds. 3:48 starts a sorrowful sounding guitar solo to furthur show off the cleaner sounding guitar.

"March October" starts off more atmospheric like. With low rumbling and clean sounding guitar for the first minute before breaking into rhythmic chugging broken up by the slamming on the organ keys. The organs in this song return the scary factor to the music that I'm used to with the organ in Skepticism. For some reason though, I feel that some one of the riffs here was recycled from "Forge" from 'Lead and Aether'. Then at 4:18, the song hits its essential transition to a more melancholic sound only to change back as the song reaches the the 5:40 mark. Soon after though, a guitar lead starts up to keep things interesting. It only sticks around for about a minute before the keys transition the song once more to a different key. Throughout the rest of the song, the riffs get more intense and a guitar solo comes along, but it eventually returns to the initial chugging style.

"Antimony" begins with low bass growling with scary organ keyboards. This song is very strongly organ oriented at first, but nearing and after the 3 minute mark the guitar takes the dominant position and at that point, the song starts to get lighter sounding. Noticeable parts of the song totally lack the organ altogether, but it returns to its scary sounding original line at the 6:09 mark. The song doesn't end that way though. It ends on a low bass tone instead fading away.

Skepticism's other keyboard sound, their more ambient sounding kind, finally makes a return in "The Curtain" to layer on some lighter sounding atmosphere and give the organ a break. This is probably the least negative sounding (so to speak) song on the album. The keyboards give that natural feel that Skepticism are known for, but instead of rainy day mood, it's more of a partly cloudy type mood. The music is kept in this type of mood as we go into the penultimate track, "Pendulum". As we go into this song, the keys sound like string instruments to keep the partly cloudy tone, but more melancholic sounding. Around the 2 and a half minute mark, the song speeds up with the keys playing some beautiful notes and the guitar eventually catching up. Through other transitions, "Pendulum" is able to get my full attention and be my favorite song on the album.

That leaves only "Oars in the Dusk". The organs return here, but they swap places with the ambient sounding keys occasionally. Incidentally, this organ based song is more melancholic sounding much like "The Arrival". Around the three minute mark, we also have clean sounding guitar to break up the procession. There's variations a plenty to keep this song interesting including leading tones on the guitar. As the song reaches it's finally minutes, the guitar riffs get stronger and faster with organs pounding and Matti going through his final lines all to end on a single organ note. At this point, I'd break this paragraph off because the last song on the last three Skepticism albums ends, then starts again to finish off the album. That doesn't happen here on 'Alloy'.

'Alloy' is a Skepticism album that sounds least like a Skepticism album, but there is nothing wrong with that. These songs are really awesome in their own right, especially the last three. I actually wouldn't mind if Skepticism called it quits with this as their last album, but I do hope they make more music.

Wilytank With 'Farmakon', Skepticism take on a slightly cleaner sound that features a somewhat clearer tone of their dreamy weirdness. For whatever a reason, this clearer tone made this album a little harder to digest, but it turned out just fine. After all, it's Skepticism we're talking about. It's 2001 at this point, and the band's been at this for quite some time.

The organs on "The Raven and the Backward Funeral" kicks this off. Mostly, the pipe organs in Skepticism songs make it sound scarier, and at certain sections here they do; but they also make the song sound regal. The song is broken up by periods of calm acoustic guitar with drums in the background so that the song still has the necessary melancholic feel. These calmer guitars are present at the start of the next song, "Shred of Light, Pinch of Endless". However, at this point, the organs are replaced by the ambiance keyboards that Skepticism are also known for.

The atmosphere generated remains light sounding and natural as usual for Skepticism, as if the pictures they paint with the atmosphere involve rain. The mixture of calm guitar and keyboards give it the sad rainy day feel while the guitar again and the drums give it the natural feel.

So why does this album not get as good of a score as the two before it? Well, like I said, it's hard to take in even compared to Skepticism's other works. There's definitely more atmosphere and less funeral doom involved. Though I like the atmosphere, it can seem a little overbearing. Look at the so-called "untitled" track. For the first two or so minutes, it's just ambient. And even after that, the ambiance keyboards are really overbearing. I feel like they could have gotten a better result if they kept them more in the back like they did with their other songs from the past years. On the other hand, I don't really dislike it either. It's decent enough to prevent this album from falling bellow the 90 percentile, which is pretty good.

I do like the continuation of the delayed ending on the final song. On "Nothing", the keyboards get intense and loud (but they were like this on the climax on the last songs on the previous albums), then it ends. After a few minutes, the music starts again to play out a final segment before fading away.

In the end, 'Farmakon' is a win/win situation, but ultimately not as noteworthy as 'Stormcrowfleet' or 'Lead and Aether'. Oh well, it's still great for what it is, and I'm glad to see that Skepticism is still playing on.

Wilytank Today, we have Skepticism once again. This time, they release this 'Aes' EP featuring a single 28 minute long song. Skepticism aren't well known for making songs THIS long; but with a funeral doom metal band, it was inevitable. You know what else it was? Pretty awesome, that's what.

The beginning is calm with soft sounding guitars and atmospheric keyboards and drums already playing the main beat. The soft guitar and the not so soft (though somehow not that heavy) funeral doom chugging guitar play together throughout the song to create a really nice sorrowful harmony. The music goes on and transitions steadily from variation to variation. 4:51 marks the biggest change so far with the metal guitar going into faster steady strums not held down. During this section, the keyboards kinda go out on their own to paint their own natural and beautiful picture. This transition is broken around the 7 minute mark with the guitar switching to some sweet sounding melodic playing eventually to be joined by the metal rhythm guitar and keyboards. This melodic lead guitar pretty much replaced the soft sounding lead guitar that was present before, but it does switch back to the soft guitar at the 10 minute mark of this song.

After the 12:30 mark, the song begins to get heavier sounding with the guitar riffs getting heavier and drums getting echoy. The guitars and keyboards play the same notes during this movement in a rhythmic dance with the drums. When this movement ends, the song gets quiet again with the drums going into a steady beat once again, guitars becoming soft, and keyboards being the main generator of the atmosphere. Eventually, the guitars begin to get tentatively more prominent, but maintaining a softer side. Up to the 19:40 mark, the keyboards have sounded like violins. Beyond that point, they break into a more atmospheric, spacey sound with the heavy rhythm guitar becoming heavy once again and the lead guitar returning to the soft strumming. By the late end of the 21 minute mark, the lead guitar goes into a more electric sounding lead going off into something of a slow solo. When it ends, the song gets heavier as it begins it's outro climax. The barely recognizable bass becomes a little heavier. The lead guitar transitions back to the soft sound. When the song finally reaches it's final stretch, the heavy instruments back off to let the soft lead guitar, drums, and quieter keyboards finish.

I love how light the lyrics are. It's like Matti is singing about slow flight:

"mountains become heavy like dust, towers will stand like smoke, ages tighten to become aes, entering the levitation, feet would crave for solid ground, lost in vast forbidden ground, fell from clouds on sacred ground, in the mills of thought are being ground..."

This song is light as a feather but heavy as a brick, giving the perfect accompaniment to the words in this song. The slightly cleaner production also helps. Skepticism fans need not be skeptical about Skepticism doing a 28 minute long song. They've pulled it off well.

Wilytank 'Stormcrowfleet' was more than enough to establish Skepticism's place in the then new funeral doom pantheon. With the great music on that album, one must wonder what would happen in a follow up? Well, approximately three years after 'Stormcrowfleet', 'Lead and Aether' arrived to answer the question. Before even listening, it is worth pointing out the overall length of this album is shorter than its predecessor which might make it yet another good starting point for those new to funeral doom. Let's go!

"The Organium" starts off with pipe organs that continue when the funeral doom music starts. The keyboard production has notably improved since the last album, making them more present than ever before. With a shorter song like this that falls just short of seven minutes, it is good to see some variation here. The first big one starts at 1:18, with the guitars moving to a more prominent position and the drums going into a tribal like rhythm. The keys are still there providing the atmosphere effect. Another variation occurs around the three minute mark slowing the pace back to the original one. The pipe organ effects make you feel like you're sitting in church. But it's not you're normal church where preaching of love and peace occur. You are in the church of hell. The preaching is of despair. Oh, and you're alone; but in these funeral doom metal visualizations, you're always supposed to be alone.

"The March and the Stream" comes next. Ten plus minutes. Now we're getting to some true funeral doom taste. We begin this procession with ambient keyboards and tribal drumming with light sounding guitar eventually coming into the mix. When the vocals and the heavy guitars come in, the drumming stays the same; but the keyboards start layer the ambient and pipe organ sounds together to generate the atmosphere. The single guitar gets a little more ambitious in this song playing a slow melodic lead at one point to break away from the plodding riffing. The biggest variation here occurs at the 6:17 with the guitar tone drastically changing and at a faster pace. It keeps that tone when the vocals return again at 7:05. Plus, the keyboards get strong again at that point to make the song extra melancholic sounding. Mixtures like this make this song an interesting counterpart to the more frightful "The Organium".

Then, we have "The Falls". It begins with a mournful atmosphere portrayed through the keyboards and guitar. Indeed, I imagine being cleansed in a waterfall in the middle of a forest when I listen to this first part. It leaves us at 2:13 to be replaced with a more astral mood as the riffs and key. There's even spacey keyboards to go along with it. Then it changes again at 4:21 with acoustic sounding guitar plucking notes. This goes on for over a minute in a sorrowful passage. Funeral doom does come back to continue, climax, and end the song.

Who makes a funeral doom song shorter than six minutes? Well I guess Skepticism does because that's just as long as "Forge" is. The key is different here than the few songs before it. This song seems to be more uplifting too as if to make you arise from the lamenting depths portrayed before. The keyboards and other instruments, played in the key that they are played, makes me visualize a castle in the sky. The key returns to the way it was at the beginning of the song to climax and end this song. The keyboards really get strong here and get very powerful on the final note.

Moving on, there is "Edges". It sinks the mood back to the gloom established earlier in this album. The regal keyboards at 1:01 are quite epic, then shift over to more spacey sounding effects almost a minute later while keeping the pace and tone of the rest of the music. As we reach the climax, the pace increases and the bass plays some more notable notes.

"Aether" ends it all. It starts out with funeral doom right from the get go. The keyboards are spacey and astral sounding again. At one point in the music, the keyboards get really extravagant and even resemble violins. On the contrast, there are parts where the keys are toned down to let the guitar take the lead. Not unlike the rest of the songs, the music gets more powerful towards the end to reach a climax. The guitar blurs into a continual stream of constant noise that ends abruptly with the song...

But like "The Everdarkgreen" on 'Stormcrowfleet', there's a false ending. After several seconds, the music begins again with all the instruments playing and the guitar and keyboards playing at an intense pitch and different key than the rest of the song only to fade out to close the album officially.

Actually, this album is superior to 'Stormcrowfleet' in my eyes. The songs are more varied and interesting, the production is slightly better to make the atmosphere seemingly heavier, and the keyboards are used in a somewhat superior way to project this lonely, solemn atmosphere. That's two for two for Skepticism!

Wilytank Time to explore another funeral doom metal band. Funeral's first two albums gave a brooding atmosphere of brooding lamentations. But let's try a different flavor: Skepticism. Unlike Funeral, Skepticism are given credit where credit is due. It might seem kind of unfair to hog all the attention; but frankly, 'Stormcrowfleet' is a damn good album.

The funeral doom starts right off the bat with "Sign of a Storm". The mournful atmosphere is here as expected, but keyboards are present in the music as well to add a different atmosphere than Funeral has. The keyboard really works wonders in this album as far as generating a thick atmosphere. They seem to generate an image of a mostly gray colored world. The sun is obscured by thick clouds that bring rain. This world is empty of life besides yourself. Even some of the grasses are decaying. Bottom line: you're by yourself walking through the aftermath of World War III, and that is what makes this album so unique. 'Stormcrowfleet' is not about the war but the aftermath.

A nice break after going through two Funeral albums full of lengthy songs is that Skepticism makes notably shorter songs such as "Pouring", "By Silent Wings", and "The Gallant Crow". In "Pouring", the pace is increased to give the atmosphere a regal sounding, underground cult atmosphere supplemented by the pipe organ sounding keyboards. With only one guitar, Skepticism actually do an excellent job of keeping the atmosphere even when the keyboard is absent, though it may be due to the production present.

"By Silent Wings" continues the ceremonial sounds established by the previous song. There's a clear initial pace that changes halfway through the song; and with the pace change, the keyboards change back to the way they sound on "Sign of a Storm", but eventually go back at the 4:47 mark until at one point they seem to layer themselves and ending on the "Sign..." style sound.

"The Rising of the Flames" features slightly faster pace to march by. Eventually, it does slow down to add some welcome variation to the mix. The keyboards develop a memorable section of notes to make this song more memorable. At the 8:07 mark, the keyboards stack up even more to further strengthen the atmosphere. After hearing this song the first time, that keyboard rhythm stuck to my head without me even recalling what song it was from; and at one point, I even thought it came from a Funeral song before realizing that they didn't use keyboards.

"The Gallant Crow" is another track that is really keyboard heavy, perhaps even more so than the previous track. The riff varies, but only very slightly. Actually, it's the final track "The Everdarkgreen" that truly climaxes this album. It starts with with an eerie pipe organ keyboard rhythm accompanied by funeral doom. Even the lyrics go with this post-apocalyptic vision: "As the crowds are now left behind I enter the vastness of green I was weary of all the noise around For my ears silence is the ultimate sound

The forest is around me In silence the pines stand tall With the wind they whisper their tales As their wisdom is everdarkgreen"

Notable variations begin at 2:42 with the timing dropping and riff changing and guitar even trying to stand out more. The keyboards pause at 4:02 to leave the funeral doom to continue on with the drums increased in timing. The timing slows at 5:08, and a swirling wind sound comes in as if to show little dust devils forming with the dust from the ruins around the empty world. The swirling eventually disappears and the keyboards return at 6:46 with the timing increasing once more. After all the lyrics have been said, the slows again with the keyboards keeping their dominant position. As the rest of the song plays out, the keyboards and funeral doom riffs continue to go on until it climaxes and ends at 10:39.

But nay, it is only a false ending. The music starts again to a different key than earlier in the song and different riffs. The keyboards grow strong, but the song fades out ending the album.

There you have it: 'Stormcrowfleet', a truly awesome funeral doom experience worthy of the praise it has gotten. And it's funny too, because on my initial listen I thought it to be mediocre. But was I so wrong! Do not miss this storm!