SCALD — Will Of The Gods Is Great Power (review)

SCALD — Will Of The Gods Is Great Power album cover

Album · 1996 · Doom Metal

4.5/5 · 2020-05-20
siLLy puPPy

When the Soviet Union, the world’s largest nation, collapsed in 1991 it left a 50% decline in GDP and industrial output and between 1990 and 1995 the birth rate plummeted while the death rate skyrocketed. The newly independent nations that included the newest largest nation on Earth, the Russian Federation, were in complete shambles so it’s no wonder that so many were looking westward for hope and inspiration. While the Soviet regime frowned upon Western influences such as metal music, a few hardcore bands managed to eke out a living in the repressive environment. Bands like Ария (Aria), Мастер (Master), Чёрный кофе (Chernyj Kofe) and Фронт (Front) weathered out the 80s through sheer determination but once the walls came crumbling down a new breed of metal artists began to appear as exposure to Western artists flooded in like face masks at an Amazon warehouse during a pandemic.

One of the most striking changes from the 80s bands to the 90s ones was the fact that most of the post-Soviet bands were dropping their native Russian language and casting their gaze on a more international audience and suddenly English lyrics and Western themes replaced anything resembling the tumultuous homeland. While many bands emerged during this time including Hieronymus Bosch, Rakoth and Mental Home, perhaps the band that has become the greatest cult legend from this era is the Yaroslavl based doom metal band SCALD. Mostly likely part of the legendary status of SCALD results from the fact that the band was short-lived having formed in 1993 and released a single album titled WILL OF THE GODS IS GREAT POWER in 1997 before the untimely death of the lead singer Maxim “Agyl” Adrianov the following year. Add to that, this album is just really, really good!

Sweden was the greatest center of admiration for SCALD as it adopted the Viking metal subject matter of Bathory’s “Hammerheart” and married it to the 80s doom metal sounds of Candlemass along with the American bands Solitude Aeturnus and Solstice and in the process crafted one of the most epic sounding metal albums ever to emerge from Russian soil. Another factor that keeps this one popular in cult metal circles is that this DIY project happened at the nadir of Russia’s economic crisis and was clearly fueled solely by an indefatigable passion for metal music of the west and despite all the odds against its existence, SCALD sallied forth into the recording studio like Viking soldiers on a conquest and created a 53 minute classic of fantasy themed epic doom metal that delivered stomping guitar riffs, bass driven rhythms and the band’s most powerful attribute of all - the extraordinary vocal prowess of Agyl whose range was every bit as impressive as Candlemass’ lead vocalist Messiah Marcolin and beyond.

Like most doom metal, this music isn’t about flashy complexity or technical workouts. SCALD was about delivering a flow of doom metal guitar distortion and a steady rhythmic beats that allowed Agyl’s vocal style to steal the show however the musicians while not in the forefront were an integral part of adding subtle changes such as guitar licks and atmospheric ambience to set an epic tone while sound effects such as rainstorms and wind howls add the timeless Earthly touches to the mix. The overall effect is more mesmerizing and hypnotic which lend to an epic tale of lost legends in measured bombast and atmospheric eeriness. By far the weakest link on WILL OF THE GODS IS GREAT is the shabby production job which is really to be expected considering the time and place of recording however like lo-fi black metal albums that purposely recorded under such conditions, the effect anchors this release even deeper into the underground and cementing its legendary status as a cult classic.

WILL OF THE GODS IS GREAT originally appeared as a cassette only release on the Moscow based MetalAgen Records label which was instrumental in bringing the emerging metal sounds to a wider audience but has been re-released with different cover art and a reshuffling of track placements on the Wroth Emitter label and has seen various reissues ver the years with even more changes of cover art but the album has not been remastered and hopefully will never be as the production job adds to the testament of a talented band persevering under the harshest of circumstances. After the death of Agyl, the remaining members wisely disbanded SCALD and formed the folk metal band Tumulus. SCALD is one of those bands that continues to captivate new audiences as time marches on. Agyl was one of the most gifted metal vocalists of any style much less classic doom metal and it’s sad that this is the only testament to his uncanny vocal range but at least this classic album hasn’t fallen into the vaults of obscurity for time immemorial .