It’s hard to believe that it’s been five years since Skyforger released their last album. Given that it was eight years between that album and the one that preceded it, it would seem safe to assume that the Latvians like to take their time when making records.
Is this one worth the wait? Well, just about. Those who listened to 2010’s Kurbads will find Senprūsija a fairly logical successor, the heavy/thrash metal influences dominating over the more folk-orientated nature of the earlier records, despite the occasional appearance of pipes and so on.
Chunky riffs and dense song structure with a fair few twists are the order of day and the vocals are as earnest as ever, making this an undeniably solid listen. However, though stylistically similar, it must be said that this is not as strong a record as the last – Kurbads was an extremely catchy and stirring opus and this is a less catchy and memorable effort.
So let’s hope we don’t have to wait as long for a follow-up as we know the band can do better./o:p
