![]() I will say that the settings, encounters, characters, dialog, heck every aspect of the module, is done on a professional level. For those of you purchasing it and hopefully playing it, 2 I won’t spoil the plot. In fact, the band is quick to acknowledge that creating this module took them longer than the album did. As someone who, in a past life, has written and sold a d20 campaign setting, I know the amount of work that can and should go into this, and it is easy to see Vitskär Süden have gone above and beyond. “The Broken Crown” is an epic crawling doom song that caps off the album, bringing to bear all the elements used previously.Īnd the module that comes with The Faceless King? It’s called Ascension of the Faceless King, and it’s pretty damn good. Garner again brings it together with his almost prophetic vocal style and the song ends in epic fashion. An album highlight is “Shepherds on the Roadside,” with an almost King Buffalo-like groove slowed down, delay and reverb-drenched guitars panned across the speakers, and sporadic bass. “Archdiocese of Worms” carries on in similar fashion to the opener, while “Voices from Beyond the Wall” is a far more delicate number, yet no less trippy. It’s all about immersing the listener in the setting of the album, in the land of this faceless king. Neither hooks nor riffs catch our attention in these songs. There is certainly a cinematic feel to The Faceless King. While “The Way” might be an odd opening to most albums due to its languid pacing and ethereal vibe, it really sets the tone for the album, letting us know we are in for a spellbinding and kaleidoscopic journey: a journey that is further explored in the D&D module that accompanies the album. The Faceless King continues the story started in Vitskär Süden’s debut, and to be honest I’m not up on it, although it seems to involve death, rebirth, the quest for power, and of course a mysterious hero. Soulful, plaintive vocals courtesy bassist Martin Garner add to the spell. Sounds float in an out of the speakers, almost more as textures really. The album opens as one might expect judging from the album cover: hazy and bizarre. But most of us are nerds, so let’s dig into both the album and the module, shall we? How cool is that? Pretty cool if you like D&D, pretty nerdy if you don’t. What’s different this time around? A few things, not the least of which is the fact that, with certain purchases, this concept album also comes with a fully-fledged Dungeons & Dragons module. The Faceless King follows up 2020’s well-regarded eponymous debut. These guys have been playing together in some form or other for around twenty years now, but as Vitskär Süden this is their second release. Meet Vitskär Süden, a progressive/psychedelic/overall trippy band that hails not from some esoteric land as the umlauts in their name might suggest, but rather from Los Angeles, California. ![]() Well, this is certainly a unique release in many ways, and thanks to the bureaucracy of our PDS 1 this one slipped by everyone and right down to me.
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