For anyone with a taste for atmospheric black metal, Skuggor is hardly an unfamiliar name, but it deserves to be brought back into the spotlight. The project is the brainchild of Matthew Bell, an Australian multi-instrumentalist now based in Sweden, who has immersed himself in the black metal underground through a seemingly endless string of solo projects. With more than ten ventures under his belt, Skuggor is just one piece of a much larger musical puzzle — yet it arguably remains the project through which he has delivered his most compelling material.
To date, Bell has released three full-lengths under the Skuggor banner: Skogshypnos (2023), Whispers of Ancient Spells (2024), and Where Sun Resigns (2025). Each record has shown a clear progression in songwriting and atmosphere, but with The Expanse, the multi-instrumentalist has reached a new compositional high point.
The title track sets the tone with more than eight minutes of slowly unfolding atmosphere. It begins in an almost meditative state, gradually introducing guitars and vocals until its initial grandeur gives way to something far more unsettling. Beauty and menace coexist throughout the track, immediately establishing the album’s defining traits: spacious arrangements, deliberate pacing, and an ever-present tension between the majesty of nature and the darkness lurking beneath it. The Fire slows the pace even further, embracing a more martial and visceral character. Steady, measured drumming provides the backbone for tortured vocals and expansive instrumental sections, while subtle folk and orchestral elements add unexpected layers to the arrangement. The Trance, as its name suggests, takes a more hypnotic route. The guitars become almost a sonic canvas, allowing synths and atmospheric textures to gradually spread across the composition, while increasingly aggressive vocals reinforce its dreamlike yet unsettling quality. Hem is arguably one of the album’s most dynamic and fully realized tracks. Beginning in familiar atmospheric territory, it gradually evolves into a more triumphant second half, with keyboards, guitars, and increasingly powerful rhythmic patterns heightening its epic qualities without sacrificing the underlying melancholy that permeates the record. The Storm then pushes the intensity considerably higher, alternating blast beats and harsher passages with piano and clean guitars. The resulting contrast is one of the album’s most effective moments, balancing ferocity and fragility without either side overwhelming the other. Finally, The Nothing brings the journey to a close with a more overtly folk- and Viking-inspired approach. After the immense emotional weight of the preceding tracks, it feels almost as though Skuggor is gradually dissolving back into the surrounding landscape. What remains is a lingering sense of emptiness, distance, and melancholy — an appropriately understated ending to such an immersive record.
Overall, The Expanse is an album that seems to pass in the blink of an eye. Drawing from ’90s black metal, ambient music, and Nordic folk, Skuggor brings these influences together into expansive, slow-burning compositions that place immersion and atmosphere above all else. The songwriting is patient and evocative, while the production serves the material without ever getting in the way of its emotional impact.
This is atmospheric black metal built around mood rather than sheer aggression, in which every guitar line, keyboard layer, and rhythmic shift contributes to the feeling of being pulled deeper into an immense, shadowy landscape. The Expanse represents another significant step forward for Skuggor and stands as one of the year’s strongest atmospheric black metal releases.
