You don’t necessarily have to have visited Scotland to imagine its landscape. Vast forests, rolling hills, dark moorlands and wisps of mist slowly drifting across the mountainsides. Put on your headphones, close your eyes and let Andy Marshall be your guide. With Caledonia, the Scottish musician takes you on a journey lasting just over fifty minutes through a world where nature, history and melancholy constantly intertwine. Although I’ve never set foot in the Scottish Highlands, it almost feels as though I’ve been on quite a hike when the album finishes.
Yet Caledonia is not a new chapter in Saor‘s musical travelogue. Instead, Marshall returns to his own past. Five compositions, originally taken from Roots, Aura and Guardians, have been completely rerecorded. This is no simple remaster that merely blows the dust off the old recordings, but an attempt to finally make the music sound the way Marshall originally envisioned it. With producer Chris Fielding and several guest musicians at his side, he now has the resources and experience he lacked during his early years. Interestingly, Marshall was already considering rerecording older material back in 2017, as he wasn’t entirely satisfied with the performances and production at the time. Caledonia is therefore more of a long-cherished ambition than a sudden exercise in nostalgia.
The obvious question is what such an undertaking actually achieves. Old compositions are given a new coat, but does it fit them any better? Particularly in atmospheric black metal, that is far from guaranteed. After all, a raw production can contribute just as much to the mystique as a carefully balanced recording. What immediately stands out on Caledonia is just how much room the music is given to breathe.
Our walk begins with Aura. The composition opens up a landscape in which aggression and beauty coexist with remarkable ease. The guitars can lash out quite fiercely, but thanks to the tin whistle, low whistle and mysterious female vocals, that aggression almost seems to wash right past you. Changes in tempo make the scenery shift constantly, while Marshall’s harsh vocals sit slightly further back in the mix. This gives the melodies and instruments all the space they need to tell their story. As the track progresses, the intensity increases, yet Saor never loses control. It is a beautiful composition that immediately makes clear that this journey is about more than simply reaching the destination.
With The Awakening, the pace initially picks up, although the track begins with a lovely violin introduction. The drums and guitars soon take over, once again demonstrating just how important variation is to Saor. Halfway through, the icy atmosphere is broken by clean vocals that suddenly bring warmth into the composition. This contrast between cold and comfort returns throughout Caledonia. It is like stumbling upon a place with a roaring fire in the middle of a bitterly cold walk. Lyrically, the song fits that feeling perfectly. Marshall calls for the ancient knowledge and traditions of our ancestors not to be forgotten.
On Carved in Stone, the Uilleann pipes, the Irish variation of the bagpipes, take a prominent role. The tempo is somewhat slower, and the composition moves forward primarily through melancholy and sweeping melodies. The female vocals once again play an important part. Where the black metal foundation creates a certain restlessness elsewhere, here there seems to be more room for reflection. The lyrics about ancient stones, mysterious inscriptions and ancestral wisdom fit the atmosphere beautifully. The slowly unfolding melody is enough to send your thoughts wandering miles away.
Perhaps everything comes together most beautifully on Hearth. This is arguably the most folk-oriented composition of the five and, as far as such a thing is possible with Saor, also the most accessible. The full arsenal of instruments is brought into play, while clean vocals, group singing and screams are woven together with remarkable subtlety. The track breathes an almost instinctive connection to the landscape Marshall sings about. That is no coincidence, as the lyrics incorporate lines by Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott about the bond between a person and their homeland. Marshall adds his own images of ancient glens, mountain peaks and abandoned ruins.
That sense of belonging takes on a darker shade with closing track Tears of a Nation. Where Hearth primarily expresses love for one’s homeland, here we hear the sorrow of what has been lost. The lyrics draw on Scottish poetry by Tobias Smollett, portraying a country scarred by violence and destruction. Musically, Saor once again opts for a lengthy, carefully constructed composition. The almost classical-sounding middle section brings a remarkable sense of calm, after which the music gradually gathers strength. Towards the end, an increasingly euphoric feeling emerges. It is a striking contrast with the mournful subject matter, but that is precisely what makes the ending so effective. As though, somewhere beyond the mist, a little light is finally beginning to break through.
What makes Caledonia special is that these five compositions were never originally intended to form a single album. Yet here they feel like different stages of the same journey. From admiring the landscape and rediscovering ancient traditions to a deep connection with one’s homeland and grief over its history. Chris Fielding’s clear production plays a significant part in bringing everything together. The guitars retain their power, while the traditional instruments, vocal passages and subtle melodies are given enough space to add colour to the whole. The result is an album that, despite its lengthy compositions, never feels like a collection of disconnected ideas.
Whether every new version is definitively better than its original is another question. After all, the early Saor recordings possess a character of their own, along with a certain imperfection that is not necessarily a disadvantage in this kind of music. What remains beyond doubt is the care with which Marshall has approached his older compositions. He is not trying to erase his past, but rather to show what this music sounds like when years of experience, improved recording possibilities and a richer instrumental palette come together. And ultimately, that is Caledonia‘s greatest achievement. Marshall returns to the music that began his own journey, while taking us through the landscapes and history that have inspired him all these years.
For now, the Scottish Highlands remain a place I know only from photographs and stories. But after these fifty minutes, I can vividly imagine the cold wind, the mist hanging over the hills and the sound of footsteps along a deserted path. Time to take off the hiking boots. The headphones can stay on a little longer.
Label:
Season of Mist, 2026
Tracklisting:
- Aura MMXXVI
- The Awakening MMXXVI
- Carved in Stone MMXXVI
- Hearth MMXXVI
- Tears of a Nation MMXXVI
Line-up:
- Andy Marshall – Vocals, guitar, bassguitar, pads
- Carlos Vivas – Drums
- Ella Zlotos – Vocals, tin whistle, low whistle, Uilleann pipes
- Àngela Moya Serrat – Violin
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