Saor “Caledonia” Album Review by Jorge Pozo

Nov 5, 2026

Most re-recorded albums arrive with an apology attached, but Caledonia arrives with a question: what does a song owe to the way it first sounded? Saor, the Scottish project of Andy Marshall, answers by returning to five pieces from its first three records and rebuilding them from the ground up. The title is the Latin name for Scotland, and it fits the way Marshall has framed his music since 2013, a blend of Gaelic folk tradition and extreme black metal that he calls Caledonian metal. These are not remasters. Every note was played again, each title now carries the tag MMXXVI, and the result is shorter, clearer and more confident than the originals ever were.

The most telling change is simply what you can hear. On the early recordings, Marshall‘s voice was often buried, and the folk instruments fought for space against walls of guitar. With Chris Fielding handling production, mixing and mastering, the drums of Carlos Vivas sound more organic, the vocals sit above the mix, and the layers finally separate. “Aura MMXXVI” opens the record at 11:40, and the extra room lets its Highland melodies breathe, while Ella Zlotos adds vocals that were absent from the original. Her softer voice against Marshall‘s darker one is the album’s most obvious new color, and it works.

The folk instruments carry the weight of the record. Zlotos plays tin whistle, low whistle and uilleann pipes, and Àngela Moya Serrat‘s violin adds another thread, giving songs like “The Awakening MMXXVI” a swing between gentle passages and blast-beat fury that feels natural. “Carved in Stone MMXXVI”, the oldest song here, loses the most length, falling from 13:33 to 10:19, yet it gains focus, with big riffs, harsh vocals and whistle lines that rise out of the guitars. “Hearth MMXXVI” is a slow-building piece that evokes mist over ancient stones, and its patience pays off.

The closing track is where the idea becomes personal. “Tears of a Nation MMXXVI” deals with centuries of oppression, shifting between anger and sorrow, and the improved clarity makes its dense, progressive structure easier to follow, especially the ending. Yet this is also where the compromises show. Some listeners will feel that the polish costs a little of the raw, frozen energy that made the first versions so haunting, and the sequencing of five unrelated songs lacks the cohesion of a proper album. The tracks are great, but they were written before Marshall tightened his songwriting, and a few corners remain rough.

Still, the case for the record is stronger than the case against it. It works as an entry point for newcomers who may find the original recordings too abrasive, and for longtime fans it is a companion that shows how far Marshall has traveled as a player, composer and producer. The artwork by Anaïs Chareyre-Méjan, who also made the video for “Carved in Stone”, frames the music in appropriately earthy tones. It is not the true follow-up to Amidst the Ruins, and nobody should treat it as one, but it is a generous, carefully

Get your copy here: https://www.season-of-mist.com/release/caledonia/

Rating: 8.5/10