Tim Sköld, Swedish multi-instrumentalist, collaborator with KMFDM and Marilyn Manson and producer of his own early, youthful projects, has released an album under his name, SKOLD. Titled The Undoing, it could also have been set in all bold capitals on the jacket, to keep with its bold, aggressive nature. Intended for 2014 release, it was postponed until 2016 and has been well worth the wait.
The Undoing consists of 11 compelling, aggro-industrial tracks with titles like “Chasing Demons” and “The Bleeding Heart.” It covers a lot of updated musical ground.
This stuff is not for the faint of heart. We have tracks that range from plodding, relentless and hypnotic repetition of Leni Riefenstahl’s famous meme, “Triumph of the Will”—to several with techno-industrial rhythms as rapid as the pace of a runaway locomotive. True to his name, much of the vocalization has the emotion tenor of an angry scolding as in “Chasing Demons” or “The Beat Will Kill Us.”
There are occasional eerie, female samples that contrast with Sköld’s harsh, aggressive voice. Cadences vary from track to track, and a few songs are slower paced: plodding, relentless and deliciously hypnotic. Sköld’s hoarse, agitated singing is quite appealing, and it fills the album with engaging—even musical—melodies and comprehensible, sensible lyrics. Fans of Nine Inch Nails, Filter or similar bands will find the style and content irresistible and within the esteemed genre. Unusual synthetic instrumentation adds a further level of appeal to devotees of electro-industrial music.
In A Word: Explosive
