Artist: Chevallier Skrog / Moospirscher
Country: Czechia / Germany
Label: Cosmic Cause Productions
Formats: Split Cassette
Year: 2025
Although there are actually two split releases between these two enigmatic one-man acts, this is the first, which was released on cassette tape sometime in 2025 on the label of MBN (Chevallier Skrog). The second split is rather new and has yet to see a physical release, but if that one is as interesting as this first meeting, I’ll definitely give that a listen as well.
Ever since the inception of Chevallier Skrog, this project has had as many colours and sounds as you can imagine. Most of the material can be qualified as raw Ildjarnian Black Metal, slightly folky but always harsh and with a distinct punk vibe and attitude. But sometimes, it does lean more towards ambient and incorporates field recordings as well. This time around, Chevallier Skrog offers one lengthy track that has much in common with hipster Roadburn festival-like Black Metal. The repetitive and trance inducing riffs, played at a sluggish pace, are heavily laced with droning ambient and hoarse vocals. This is definitely new territory for the project, but it fits just as well. MBN has never really disappointed and with this piece of Black Metal/Ambient/Noise/Funeral Doom he shows he’s definitely a jack of all trades.
Admittedly, I had come across Moospirscher several times and had listened to it, but never attentively enough—in the sense that I was tempted to buy something from this artist. Part of the reason for this is that I’m not particularly fond of the chiptune music featured in many of his other projects. Because much of his music is also released on floppy discs or even Game Boy cartridges (yes, really), it strikes me as rather gimmicky. Although this fifteen-minute track does not contain chiptune, it is nothing more than plain sound. More like something you would expect as background music for B movies or horror films. The musicality is pretty much non-existent, although it is not particularly unpleasant to listen to. However, I don’t think the average metal fan will be very enthusiastic about it.
