- Country: UK
- Style: Post-metal
- Label: Church Road Records / Translation Loss Records
- Release date: 25 September 2020
Svalbard’s third album is the one where they let the light in. The post-hardcore fury is still there, but When I Die, Will I Get Better? leans hard on shimmering, shoegaze-washed guitars and ethereal vocals, and it makes the heavy parts land twice as hard.
Serena Cherry writes about depression and about the way women get treated, online and off, and she doesn’t bury any of it in metaphor. “Open Wound” takes on domestic abuse head-on. “Click Bait” is pure scorn. “Listen to Someone” turns its plea into one of the most open-hearted choruses in heavy music that year, and the closing “Pearlescent” drifts out on a cloud of reverb that you don’t want to end.
The record also had a messy birth. Svalbard cut ties with their original label weeks before release and the album came out through the newly formed Church Road Records instead. None of that chaos is audible. Eight songs, no filler, and a real emotional punch.
Best tracks:
Open Wound
Click Bait
Listen to Someone
Pearlescent
Author’s rating: 8.9/10
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