It’s truly fascinating how not only Attila Csihar has become a bastion of the alternate underground in his work with Sunn 0))) members, but now former Mayhem vocalist Maniac has teamed up with a variety of artists, from current and former members of Shining to highly-regarded experimental group Current 93 to create a new project, the debut EP of which has been released on respected Neofolk and Martial label Cold Spring. Skitliv, meaning ‘shit life’, play a very strange form of Doom that takes in everything from Black Metal to power electronics, the final result being something not a million miles away from Maniac’s former band’s 2007 masterpiece, Ordo Ad Chao. Much like that, this is a dark, psychological journey through some disturbing territory indeed, although in Skitliv’s case there’s more of a ‘bad drug trip’ vibe than Mayhem’s apocalyptic suicide note.

The EP consists of two studio tracks and six live tracks, including versions of the studio tracks. Interestingly, it’s the latter that includes the manic intro by Current 93, enhanced by the live roughness, and follow-up track Slow Pain Coming easily beats the studio version for sheer snail-paced malice, although all have value. Valley Below takes a slightly more epic route, whilst the closing live version of Amfetamin opens with droning feedback, moving into the opening riff from Mayhem’s classic song Deathcrush. The studio version of Amfetamin wins overall on consideration; stripped of the live hum, there’s still more than enough darkness to make it quite gripping.

It’d be easy to dismiss the majority of Amfetamin as live messing-about from Maniac and company – after all, remove all the feedback and you’re left with little actual music. Yet the overall atmospheric vibe (and let’s face it, that’s what you’d get it for) is strong enough to make this of interest to those constantly seeking aural undelights. If Skitliv get around to recording a full-length, then many will come back to check Amfetamin out; for the moment, you’d be better off remembering the name than running out to get this.