Review by Greg on November 22, 2023.

Skeletonwitch have always been a curious, one-of-a-kind entity throughout their career. While nowadays there's a band like Necropanther nailing a similar style pretty much to a T, their way of blending thrash, black and death metal remained pretty much unique to them throughout the most part of their run. Since the insanely successful sophomore Beyond the Permafrost hit the shelves in 2007, three successive full-lengths more or less reaffirmed the same formula, until the watershed – vocalist Chance Garnette's abandonment. Pressure of expectations above his successor Adam Clemans' shoulders wasn't small, and the band decided to emphasize the detachment from their past by opting for an (almost) complete change of direction, releasing the here presented Devouring Radiant Light, which still ranks as their swansong five years later. Surely times haven't been the easiest for the band, and the mixed reception it met might have had something to do with it. But let's keep things in order, relax and have a seat, it's gonna be a long trip.

However, to get it immediately out of the way, I've never been that big on Skeletonwitch, so maybe that's why I don't hate this. Or better, I don't dislike this. Actually, scratch that, I rather like it.

Now, I might look like a dullard, a simpleton, someone simply out of touch with the matter, or a combination of the three, but really the first band that comes to my mind is Avenged Sevenfold, of all people. They had made a very similar step two years earlier with The Stage, confounding a lot of people who witnessed the same band that played 'Bat Country' launch themselves into 15-minutes long wannabe prog metal suites about the universe and philosophy containing Neil DeGrasse Tyson's speeches, especially considering how their previous LP was nothing more than a cover album poorly disguised as original material, just four years prior. You can imagine this kind of shock is guaranteed to both resound and alienate at least a portion of the band's fanbase. Needless to say, as a long-time fan, I've come to consider it their magnum opus, if you're interested. (Although they're really testing my loyalty and open-mindedness with Life Is but a Dream... – but that's another story.)

One thing I can't deny though, of course, is that Devouring Radiant Light really marks a noticeable departure from their tried and tested style. Gone are the rapid-fire, short tracks that rarely stayed on the same path throughout all their concise length, enter long, atmospheric compositions filled with minimal, but tasteful melodic lines and whatnot. Okay, not everything on this album requires a certain dose of patience, with 'Carnarium Eternal' even clocking at three exact minutes, but you still better not be expecting 'Upon Wings of Black' or 'Crushed Beyond Dust' to start playing whenever one of these ends. The band opening things up with the seven minutes of 'Fen of Shadows', the first two of which spent on a slow build-up, in complete countertrend to every other release of theirs, is as clear as a declaration of intents can be, just like the foggy dude in a hoodie looking behind his back when compared to the Baizley- or Bouzikov-drawn colourful covers seen in the past.

It's somewhat of a surprise, then, that such a massive opener finds its best weapons in the subtle details – the continuous, if slightly repetitive in the long run, interchange of rhythms driven by Dustin Boltjes, the few lead guitar notes in the chorus, even the sustained solo vaguely echoing something like The Somberlain-era Dissection – and it's an immediate highlight. Curiously enough, when one comes to think about it, the guitars themselves, still held by founders duo Nate Garnette/Scott Hedrick, are the main draw of Devouring Radiant Light, despite being at the opposite end of the spectrum compared to literally every other release by the band. Riffs indeed leave the spotlight to those constant lead flourishes, which successfully imbue the album of a convincing wannabe Swedish atmosphere almost always, with only the ornaments on 'When Paradise Fades' ending up being a bit too pedestrian for my tastes. The longer title-track, while being far from unpredictable, even gives me Vampire vibes. All of those are welcome, if I didn't make it clear enough.

This is not to say that the guitarwork is completely devoid of any of their past 'trademark' thrashy riffing, as 'When Paradise Fades' and killer 'The Luminous Sky' offer more than a glimpse of 100% unmistakably Skeletonwitch-esque sequences, and 'Carnarium Eternal' even qualifies as a short thrasher from the height of its 3:00 runtime, arguably unimpressive on its own (save for that insanely cool 'Rise...! Rise...! RIIIIIISE!' refrain), but acting as the short detour between the two longest compositions. Yeah... about those. Amassing almost 16 minutes when coupled, 'The Vault' and 'Sacred Soil' ought to be the most controversial episodes, and the easy go-to point for any criticism. I can say that they respectively contain: a vaguely exotic refrain, and an ethereal, almost post-black guitar-only lead section, and you'll be wondering 'What the hell are these things doing in a goddamn Skeletonwitch album?', and you would be right, but again, this is not the right approach, if you ask me. They also contain two of my favourite moments on the entire LP – the sudden switch to a rare thrash beat at 7:00, and that incredible opening black metal riff, respectively – and overall I can't find much to complain about either. Even the immersive 3-minute-long intro of 'The Vault' isn't just a colossal waste of time, which would have been an easy concrete wall to crash into, when taking this route. Oh yeah, Clemans is somewhere in this landscape, not stealing the scene with his perfectly serviceable growls and shrieks, but it's not that Garnette was Mr. Variety, face it. In fact, the subtle (again) clean backing vocals used towards the end of personal highlight 'Temple of the Sun' are a complete novelty for the band.

But how did a band come to a change of course so clear? As is often the case, EPs tell the true story. The first release of Clemans-fronted Skeletonwitch was actually 2016's The Apothic Gloom, also included on the Japanese press of this album, which already showed a band willing to take their ever-present black metal influences one step further, into proper meloblack sections. Granted, it was first and foremost an initial attempt at experimenting with the new dude, as confirmed by the fact that none of those tracks had found a place on the LP (although 'Black Waters' pretty much deserved it), so it was more of a middle ground between the two extremes, but already 'Red Death, White Light' could not be considered a typical Skeletonwitch track, out of intellectual honesty. Under this point of view, Devouring Radiant Light shows a band building upon that sound, rendering the whole thing more focused and memorable, benefitting of a superior mix and, above all, of a decidedly more convincing performance by Clemans, now adding strong, deep growls to his repertoire. How could it, then, be almost panned when the EP was vastly recognized as a right move? God only knows.

Alas, ultimately, as with every case of a band breaking out of their norm, there really isn't a 'right' answer to whether they succeeded or not. Many times the 'at least change name' argument has been unleashed in similar situations, and I rarely agreed with it: some bands sure are reliable, but not all of them should be limited to sound just like... how people know they sound like, you know? I'm not even sure whom this long rambling is for, as every reviewer who hated this album made more than reasonable arguments for it, and the last thing I'm trying to do is change their mind. So, perhaps the punchline could be something along the lines of: listen only if you fall in the 'not being a betrayed die-hard Skeletonwitch fan and not knowing enough black metal bands to notice how the whole thing maybe isn't even original in the slightest' category. Avoid otherwise.

It's not what many wanted, that's for sure. It will never be remembered as their best release, nor it is from an 'objective' standpoint (as much as it may mean). Beyond the Permafrost stands proudly and deservedly as an epochal album light years ahead of the pack, and I've honestly come to appreciate with time how fuckin' brutal Serpents Unleashed really is, especially as a furious rebound from the dull meanderings of Forever Abomination. Devouring Radiant Light is nonetheless their album I return the most to. The one I listen to more gladly. Ultimately, my favourite of theirs. If one asks me my favourite Skeletonwitch song – well it hasn't happened so far and it's unlikely it ever will but whatever – I'm sure I'd say one from this album. I respect them for having shaped an iconic sound in the new millennium, but for as many betrayed fans hoping Devouring Radiant Light was just an extremely realistic nightmare there are, I for one regret the fact that it seems to have become an unfortunate unicum in their discography.

Five years later and counting.

'We do not gleam for you, but shine for ourselves.'

Rating: 8.1 out of 10