Formed in Germany in 2012, "Skratte" is an old Swedish word and can roughly be translated to "forest demon," "devil" or "nature spirit." SKRATTE was founded as a solo-project by Hevnbrann in 2012 in order to materialize his musical vision. His words treat hatred, misanthropy and damnation - a lyrical reflection of a world that is devoid of any deity and can only be held in place through the devotion of every single natural spirit, inspired by the coldness and brutality of Norwegian Black Metal as well as the characteristic versatility and harmonious playing of the French. This is his debut full-length release, and contains eleven tracks.

"Ein Ruf..." leads off the album. It begins with the gentle sway of acoustical guitars and audible bass notes. It's quite charming...folky and somewhat sad. Some lead guitar notes come in towards the end...very well done. "Im Nebel des Herbstes" opens with a more traditional Black Metal sound...a wall of guitars, shrieky vocals, and thunderous drumming. Some clean vocals come in around the half-way mark, then it drops to acoustical guitars. The opening sound then returns with a vengeance. "Das erste Licht" opens with clean guitar that soon give way to a somber sound. It rolls forward with a lumbering pace. Subtle melodies are built in the guitar work, then comes the thicker, faster sound. The sound then shifts to clean vocals and more of that somber feeling, and then it closes on the faster sound.

"...im Verborgenen..." is a very short, one-minute of clean guitar and some alluring harmonies. It's over before you realize it. "Düsterheit" brings more of the traditional Black Metal sound to light. It's charged and full of rage. Some clean vocal hums even out the song. "Der Gott in mir" is strong out of the gates. With thicker guttural utterances and a wall of guitars, its intensity is hard to match. It slows just before the half-way mark, with clean vocals done in their native language. It gains steam and then ends on a powerful note. "Der graue Geist" is a lengthy seven-minute song that opens with tortured screams and angry vocals. Again, it slows after the half-way mark, something that seems common on the album. But the way they build melodies in the guitars is nicely done.

"Ein Feuer entfacht" is a ten-minute opus, beginning with somber clean guitars that lead to madness, complete with a harrowing scream. It builds with power forward, and those guitar harmonies are quite sweet. The sound changes at the half-way mark, to a more plodding, depressing sound. The sound predictably drops and then returns. "Eines Irrlichts letztes Glimmen" is another lengthy song that opens with a full sound. It slows just before the half-way mark, taking on a commanding presence, along with some unconventional chord progressions. Again, it slows, with some mysterious sounds.

"Der Schlüssel" begins with depressive tones in the acoustic guitars, along with some light vocal humming. It sounds as if they subject is suffering, as his voice quivers. An ear-piercing scream ushers in the chaos that follows, but it's a controlled chaos. The slow down this time is especially beautiful, with clean guitars and light strings. Rounding out at the seven-minute mark with a raucous pace, it ends on clean guitars. "...der Ferne" closes the album. It's a short, three-minute song featuring clean, somber guitar work, giving you a few moments of reflection.

Overall, this was a good album. It's fairly traditional in terms of its scope, but there are enough other things going on to keep the listener engaged. The guitar work is particularly good, and the melodies and harmonies they develop are unusual in the genre of Black Metal. One thing that they could work on would be to stop or alter the predictable slow downs in nearly every song. It just gets old after a while.