Sheogorath - Antimon

Angry Metal Guy 50

Most metalheads are nerds. But nerds come in gradations, and the same goes for bands. On a scale of ‘watched Game of Thrones once’ to ‘alternates LARPing and demoscene meets every other weekend,’ solo black metal bands are along the lines of ‘hobbyist cosplayer.’ ¹ So it’s a good thing that Sheogorath founder Matej Kollar got his buddy Patrick Pazour to do vocals, as social interaction automatically decreases the nerdiness. But wait, what’s that? Sheogorath is a character from the Elder Scrolls video games? Oh Matej. Into the vat of foam swords you go, buddy. Jabs aside, Sheogorath has been hammering away for over a decade already, and Antimon is album number 4 in that time, so we can at least have an expectation of experience from the duo. But expectations may lead to disappointment, which leads to anger and hate, as I think Yoda said. So will Sheogorath live long and proper, or is it a TPK?

A cursory scan of Sheogorath’s prior material shows a promising and rather vicious melodic black metal act at work, so color me shocked when Antimon demonstrates a hard swerve into Aether Realm territory. A hoarse scream and a handful of tremolos are all that’s left of the band’s black metal roots, but the screams are now complemented by occasional cleans and a few guest female vocals. Synths have come out of the woodwork to add a shot of 80’s fantasy adventure flair, and the riffs and arrays of solos are melodic to a fault, to a point where the vocals are the only thing guarding the border between melodeath and power metal. Sheogorath is rolling out of the darkness on wheels of cheese.

But if you’re not lactose intolerant and willing to indulge in the Viking-themed LARP, there is a lot of decent-to-good material to be found. Kollar is a hell of a guitar player, able to sustain pretty catchy material at speed and using a broad array of techniques. From galloping power metal riffs (“Mage in Rage”) to energetic blackened bursts (“Odin”) to sea shanty swing (“Set Sails”), there’s plenty of enjoyable guitar work, and the band displays a knack for varied songwriting that seems to draw on a different set of influences for every next track. “Set Sails” and “Raziel” are especially good, as Sheogorath’s constituent parts feel more cohesive and the flaws of the rest of the album are largely absent here.

Because there are certainly a host of flaws. Antimon may be Sheogorath’s 4th album, but the complete overhaul in terms of style and genre leaves the album sounding much like a new band that happens to use some stuff from its predecessor. Pazour’s got a decent scream, but his range is limited, which leaves him fighting the melodic songwriting. This is more than evident whenever he tries his hand at clean vocals, which span perhaps a quarter octave and are the worst part of every song they appear in. The lyrics are a parade of inane cliches, and they emphasize the predictability of the songwriting, which often travels the path of least resistance. The keys tend to hinder more than they help due to their limited library, evoking dungeon synth as much as string quartets and the short synth solo in the opener still sets my teeth on edge.

Sheogorath’s self-reinvention is not a full-blown success yet. Some of the instrumentation and songwriting choices feel slapdash, added to fit a formula without having the right tools or skills to pull them off. But the flaws don’t go down to the bone. The riffs and energy are infectious and the guys know how to write a hook. I’m not certain yet that they wouldn’t have been better off sticking to actual black metal, but I’m not yet wholly writing off this stylistic swerve just based on Antimon. With some hard reflection and improvements in key areas, there’s no reason Sheogorath can’t make a real banger next time.

Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: N/A | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Self-released
Websites: sheogorath.at
Releases Worldwide: January 24th, 2025

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