Artist: Chevallier Skrog
Country: Czechia
Label: Cosmic Cause Productions
Formats: Digital
Year: 2025
Who has been reading these pages regularly might have seen the name of Chevallier Skrog pass by more than once. MBN, who is also known for projects such as Arzhaabat, Blau Blut, CEP, Ärschlings, Svor and a wide range of others but was also behind the defunct Pant Y Meddygon label and currently active with Cosmic Cause Productions, shows his most prolific side with Chevallier Skrog. Besides a rather large amount of demos and split releases, this new record is Chevallier Skrog’s fourth full-length album and, just as is regularly the case with anything that involves MBN, you never know what you’re in for.
With Chevallier Skrog MBN brought in all sort of different angles of underground music, from Folk to Noise, Electronics to Punk and overall quirkiness. The project’s last full-length album ‘Betrayal In Realm Of Two Pillars’, from fall 2024, showed a remarkably atmospheric side. In fact, we didn’t see such a refined and, daresay, sophisticated sort of Black Metal, folky and almost Post-Punk like, from Chevallier Skrog before. ‘Invisible, Immortal’ is yet again a completely different record, the contrast hardly couldn’t be larger.
On this new full-length album MDB didn’t bother giving the tracks any titles, in fact, he presents the album as a long 31-minute single track. There are definitely different songs, or parts, to be discerned, but since it only offered as one big blur, it is hard to exactly pinpoint what happens where. On the other hand, this underlines the actual essence of most of MBN’s work. He’s clearly approaching music differently from the majority. The overall sense of improvised songs and free spirit is commendable and quite refreshing in the world of Raw Black Metal that seems to be dominated by some strict rules.
‘Invisible, Immortal’ is, although rather different from its predecessor, still a Chevallier Skrog album through and through. The total lack of coherence is probably the biggest hint to link this to MBN. The basis for the album is quite clearly the primal essence of Black Metal’s rawest variety, but there are parts in which the music hits some electronics, some more Punk-fuelled passages and, for good measure, a few folky elements are still present as well. But, as a whole, the album whirls into a rather creative maelstrom of Raw and oppressive riffs and primal rhythms. But Chevallier Skrog wouldn’t be itself if there wasn’t at least one surprise. This time it comes in the form of the closing moments of this album, that certainly deserves a separate mention. The repetitive drums and drone-like guitars feels like as if this is the result of a jam session of Earth doing some Joy Division, Echo & The Bunnymen and early U2 sort of 80’s wave tribute.
Some of the band’s earlier material was compares to the Eastern European and Russian Black Metal scene, mainly because of the rugged and rather harsh nature of the music. Bands like Branikald and Forest were mentioned more than once. To some degree, that musical parallel can still be drawn, but with years of building a significant discography I think MBN has created a sound that is distinctly different and pretty much his own. In that regard, ‘Invisible, Immortal’ has Chevallier Skrog written all over it.
