ISKANDR – Spiritus Sylvestris, DigiCD

Iskandr’s latest offering “Spiritus Sylvestris” appears to be a radical statement in both content and form. Signifying a departure from the black metal roots of the project, the psychedelic folk doom of the new album builds upon the directions of where both “Vergezicht” and “Glas” were already moving towards. “Spiritus Sylvestris” is cinematic in scope: majestic and threatening in its aura of sublime grandeur. The Latin title translates to “spirit of the wild” and also refers to the early modern alchemical name for carbon dioxide –when the spirit of the wilderness is released into the aether through the burning of wood and charcoal. The songs tell impressionistic stories of natural elements personified; when powerful spirits that linger in the earth are stirred, those elemental forces will be forced to haunt our world. In an era of irreversible damage to our planet and anthropogenic climate change, Iskandr aims to offer funeral dirges for the world that we have already lost.

“Spiritus Sylvestris” embraces a limitless approach to translate this vision into musical form. Employing musical elements from a broad array of genres; easily moving between the martial stomp of early Laibach and the ethereal melodics of Dead Can Dance. Recorded and mixed by the legendary Pieter Kloos (The Devil’s Blood, Motorpsycho) at The Void Studio in Eindhoven, the new Iskandr record has broadened the scope and sound of the project beyond any confines, resulting in the most open soundscapes from Iskandrto date. The heavy baritone guitar riffs that form the backbone of the record provide a pitch-black canvas in which huge percussive rhythms and psychedelic layers of Hammond organ, Mellotron as well as subtle acoustics move in and out of focus. If this world is at an end it deserves a requiem for that what is lost.