I get few opportunities for hiking thanks to my urban-adjacent residency, but were I to pick my ideal hiking spot, the Scottish Highlands would be up there. In lieu of a plane ticket, it seems I must settle for yet another spin of Traverse the Bealach, the long-distance hiking-inspired concept album about a nomad’s journey through post-apocalyptic Scotland, from Tony Dunn’s Sgàile. Dunn has an impressive resume that spans playing bass in Cnoc an Tursa, singing for Falloch, and some live performances with his former bandmate Andy Marshall’s Saor, but Sgàile is his one-man show. Traverse the Bealach is Sgàile’s second release after 2021’s Ideals and Morality, and his first foray into concept album territory; concept albums are tricky business, and a favorite amongst ambitious one-man projects, so how does Traverse the Bealach fare?
Black/folk metal has historically been the genre of choice to represent the Scottish Highlands, but Traverse the Bealach is a more direct progressive metal with atmospheric touches. The crisp mix by Mike Lamb (Sojourner and Remina) creates an expansive soundscape where the rhythm guitars chug with real weight while the leads float above with post-y tremolos and fast, energetic melodies that never blend into noise. There’s a lot of Alcest in the way Traverse the Bealach plays with airy lead guitars over a powerful rhythm section, though there’s a Scottish brogue to the lead guitar melodies. They’re not quite a folky Scottish jig, mind, but there is a spirited step to how the leads rise and fall. Dunn’s vocals, which were fantastic in Falloch, are as fantastic as ever. Throughout Traverse the Bealach, Dunn harmonizes his voice with backing vocals or layers his voice to accentuate specific words. It makes for a beautiful and dynamic vocal performance, and the added effort is all the sweeter when he easily could’ve gotten away with just the one vocal layer.
Pacing is key for concept albums and long-distance hikers both, and Traverse the Bealach surprised me with great pacing through a hefty 63 minutes spread across seven tracks. “Psalms to Shout at the Void” cleverly absorbs you into the journey with a slowly swelling intro that adds layers of pianos, drums and distorted guitars before launching into a gripping riff over three minutes in. The pace breaks into a full sprint in “Lamentations by the Lochan,” where the lead guitars scream with Scottish fury betwixt blast beats. Momentum is so important with songs of this length, and the smoothness with which every riff evolves directly into the next gives Traverse the Bealach an almost physical sense of progression, with little that feels like fluff to pad out the runtime. Moments, when the energy dies down, are infrequent, yet Dunn’s impassioned vocal delivery and the interplay of clean guitars and reserved drumwork keep the softer moments in “Psalms to Shout at the Void” and “The Ptarmigans Cry” from killing that crucial pace.
A smidge of hubris in the editing room of a one-man band isn’t uncommon, and the pacing does lag in the album’s back end. Although “Silence” begins with an incredible rhythm section and some of my favorite vocal lines, the drawn-out conclusion drags from repetition and you start to feel the length. Compounding the stumble is the next track, “The Brocken Spectre.” Its moodier verse and chorus could work in a vacuum, but they don’t flow into each other with the same grace as the music in the album’s first half, and the momentum stagnates. The song’s inspired finale does get the pace back on track, before the sublime closer “Entangled in the Light” nails the ending with its powerful sequence of uplifting vignettes. Sure, as a whole, Traverse the Bealach might benefit from tightening a few areas up, but honestly, I wouldn’t want to see much go. Dunn’s incredible ear for melodies and harmonies makes Traverse the Bealach a joy to listen to even at its rare low points.
I quite liked Traverse the Bealach on my first listen, but it still snuck up on me to the point that I’ve found myself throwing it on anytime I have a spare moment (or hour). The music marches inexorably forward in a way that is just so cohesive and absorbing that you hardly even need the lyrics to follow the album’s journey through Scotland. Dunn has shown himself to be both an excellent solo musician and songwriter, and I’m already foaming at the mouth for Sgàile’s next release.
Rating: 3.5 / 5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps
Label: Avantgarde Music
Websites: sgaile.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/sgaileband
Releases Worldwide: January 19th, 2024
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