Svartby – ‘Swamp, My Neighbour’ (2015)
Rating: 8.5/10
Release: 30 November 2015
Label: Sound Age Productions
When you think of Finntroll or swamp metal in general, Svartby is in the conversation automatically. As muck ridden and mold infested as they come, they have just released their newest bog-tastic album with “Swamp, My Neighbour”-their 4th full length. Not familiar? Then off to the marshes with you!! Think Finntroll and Trollfest although probably more thrashy, maybe more like Trollgasm and a less murky version of Bergsvriden and of course newbie town mates Abracadabra. Svartby can abuse the keyboard sound effects like no other…from the standard keyboard sound to that maniacal xylophone; it just makes for a slimy soundtrack for a creepy evening stroll in your local forest. Hailing from St. Petersburg Russia, they still seemingly sing songs in Swedish (long story-read the book and after all Svartby means “Black Village” in Swedish) and more English nowadays which works for me. A couple of the tracks here were released previously on the “Karls’ Egg Farm” EP in 2013-album opener “Morbid Quag” and “Karl’s Egg Farm” so 9 new tracks in addition to these gems. The thing with Svartby is there is not a stitch of seriousness so get ready to just sit back, drink, party and laugh while you dive into this one…. sorry you don’t need to get your corpse paint out or light candles. When you hear songs called “Goat Crack”, “Bog Bar” or “Dead Boys” doesn’t it just make you chuckle? I do…..and it is nice that a band knows not to go the serious route and grow up and start writing 15 minute long songs or do a half-baked symphonic historical concept album. 11 tracks at 34 minutes are all you need, hit repeat if necessary. They just take their unseriousness seriously, does this make sense? Svartby can keep doing this and never mature in my opinion. I can’t say they are treading any new musical paths with “Swamp, My Neighbour” but who cares? The riffs are there and are catchy as the plague and tracks go from mid paced to breakneck and there is no room for lullabies or love songs.
Whether they want to get a huge following or stay rooted at home really is entirely up to them…..worldwide success can certainly happen if they want it or just stay put. On tonight’s menu, Toadstool juice, pickled rat tails and salamander stew for dinner and our accompanying music will be the new Svartby album…..someone spiked the Toadstool juice with booze and hemlock again….. perfect. I just hit repeat…..
Tracklist
- Morbid Quag 03:39
- Trojansk råtta 03:21
- Goat Crack 03:27
- Karl’s Egg Farm 03:23
- Dead Boys 03:55
- Iron Stone 02:26
- Herbal Giants 01:56
- Bog Bar 02:10
- Den svarta honungen 03:50
- Clock Tower 03:48
- Eisenstein 02:26