Nope the keyboard gremlins have not been at play here, raunijaR is the correct title and way that Helheim have chosen to represent this, their eighth album. There is always a mark of quality about what they do and this is no exception, the Norsemen having taken 4 long years to follow up last opus Heiðindómr ok mótgangr. This marks a conclusion of various things, firstly the numerological self-titled tracks that started back on the Terrorveldet EP back in 1999, the work that apparently saw drummer Hrymr as the creative force behind them. Also Asgard’s Fall parts III and IV look back to the EP of 2010 and conclude that particular saga. I guess you could really if you wanted make your own mix tapes and listen to things consecutively here but rest assured the music flows well through this particular album and it would be a case of doing so for curiosities sake rather than necessity.
‘Helheim 9’ is quick to soak us in the atmosphere and authenticity of bygone times with subtle and poetic Skaldic vocal harmony and the twang of a Jew’s harp. It’s all quite laid back rather than anything else making me think that the battle has already been fought and our horde is chilling back remembering the bloodshed and their fallen comrades. This is traditional and far from a blackened mass although hoary and guttural vocals swagger through the folkloric melody. Although never exploding the track does bounce in and moves off with the unmistakable added vocal clamour of Alfahanne main-man Pehr Skjoldhammer adding to it, his parts rolling off the tongue and bringing this opus to a suitably finite conclusion. ‘Raunijar’ then bustles and hustles in driving the momentum forward with a tribal bombast and melody that I can’t help thinking of being similar to a different but just as wild frontier, one by Adam And The Ants! Those big timpani drumming booms and backing horns take it quickly to another place though as it romps away with tempestuous melody and rasping vocals. This is very much the stuff of legends put to musical form and its clamour is formidable with its heathen cleave attacking and cantering along with some fiery solo guitar work wrapped around it all. The running time at 5 and a half minutes makes it incredibly accessible as well as memorable, one for the cover-mount discs for sure.
Not quite so as far as Asgard’s Fall III and IV are concerned. Here we naturally have work of a more epic scope. Tracks have lots going on in them from an acoustic strum at opening to a fantastically arranged progressive mass. Big austere choral chants rise and it feels like empires are about to fall at their feet. The melody is rich and all consuming, vocals multi-faceted and there is a near psychedelic sprawl to things perhaps not totally surprising considering recording and mastering were helmed via members of Vulture Industries and Enslaved. One should not go into this looking for massive black charges though; it is more of a case of soaking up the rich and grandiose peaks that it coasts along on, soaring like a bird of prey over an ice-capped mountain. Granted that may sound clichéd but that is exactly what you get with the first part in particular. Part IV ups the drama and leads you through labyrinthine dark twists and turns building on the percussive might and propelling ever forward. It has a dreamy feel about it, leading you on into the mountains of the gods themselves and allowing you to soak up the wonder of it all with the flowing clean vocal harmonies and the sprawl of the musicianship. If this is a case of tying up loose ends Helheim have certainly done so admirably. It’s left for last track Odr to build on the past and look forward to the future with a hefty drum work-out leading into shimmering guitars and mesmerising vocals that sound like they are telling one of the greatest tales ever told. It’s a bewitching and compelling feast of ideas all elaborately designed and written with fantastic depth and vision. The fact the band keep you on the edge of your toes expecting them to go for the throat and never quite doing so makes it all the more clever and anyone feeling disappointed that Helheim do not, clearly has not understood the essence of the music here. This is one for cold winter nights around a log fire, an album to breathe in and indulge yourself in as it spreads a warmth and passion few are able to match.
(8.5/10 Pete Woods)
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