The concept of SkyThala began as something between a joke and a personal challenge between Clackner and Longo, whose shared love of classical music lead them to attempt to score and orchestrate a hypothetical progressive black metal band based on a particular admiration for Igor Stravinsky. When SkyThala surpassed their expectations and quickly took shape, Clackner recruiting Meyers to complete their vision with his remotely-tracked drumwork. Forgoing the North American folk and country techniques which characterise Clackner's satellite projects Crestfallen Dusk, Vile Haint and Primeval Well, SkyThala instead draw and expand on the symphonic black metal pioneered by Emperor while adding flourishes borrowed from dissonant death metal and Stravinsky's harsh oeuvre, earning them comparisons to Thantifaxath, Krallice, Dordeduh, Blut aus Nord, Imperial Triumphant and Aquilus.

There aren't any available band photos, so I'm going with their logo. I'm a bit suspicious of this project, enjoyable as it may be, as the combination of vague references to the Russian Revolution along with arch-reactionary Stravinsky is a bit of a red flag, but perhaps nothing more so than the project's name and logo. The only existing interview with Clackner doesn't even touch upon the album's themes or politics of any stripe; I don't know what "SkyThala" is meant to mean, but the Othala rune - against which the stylised band name appears - is extremely popular among Nazis of the old and new school.