Bands pass us all by, but some continue to do so, one such band for me would be Kvelertak. Never have I thought that the band were bad, I even saw them live supporting Slayer but still I never really clicked with it. Maybe at that point in time I was ‘2 trve 4 u’ or maybe I just didn’t get it. Sure the band were genre-defying and continue to be but none the less I am yet to call myself a real fan. That said their influence should not be understated, especially when it comes to now ex-vocalist Erlend Hjelvik.
I speak of Hjelvik and his legacy because of his shocking departure from the band back in 2018, why would you leave such a successful band! Well it would appear that he had his reasons and those reasons are his new solo project simply titled Hjelvik. A self-professed Blackened Viking Heavy Metal band I was eager to listen to this new direction for the man. It kind of sounded like exactly what I’ve wanted from Kvelertak. Although on the other hand I’m a bit of a genre nazi and don’t like tags such as ‘Viking Metal’. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy bands that fall under that banner, but that’s another rant for another day. So, this debut entitled Welcome To Hel comes to us through Nuclear Blast, but did Erlend make the right move?
The melodic riffs of Father War crack open the album with almost Amon Amarth style. Then in come the vocals which lay over these riffs with a punishing quite modern twist and with a good deal of memorability. I also get some early Ensiferum vibes from the sound projected in the album. Thor’s Hammer takes a strange twist with an almost Hardcore projection, especially in the riffs, is Viking Hardcore going to be a thing now? I hope not! Jokes aside it’s still a snappy track but nothing to write home about. Thankfully Helgrinda gets back to more of the Melodic Death/ Folk Metal sound, it suits the release much better. With flagon swinging action comes The Power Ballard Of Freyr, this has the typical Folk Metal beer drinking feel to it. Probably one of the better and catchiest songs on the record. That said Glory Of Hel is also a good sing-a-long, one that I can imagine going down well live, particularly at a festival.
Thankfully it appears that the more melodic tone is upheld throughout the album as 12th Spell and Ironwood indicate, the latter is a little more Thrash/ Hardcore infused but I think it works much better than Thor’s Hammer. One negative of Welcome To Hel though would have to be that it is somewhat generic, I mean a lot of this kind of music does tend to sound the same to me and whilst I don’t hate it, it can get a little tired quickly, there are many different influences within the record but most are relatively predictable. I really enjoy the riffs in North Tsar however, it has quite an epic feel and does break from the atonal nature a little bit, a bigger more bombastic song, just what the album needs at this stage. Final track Necromance draws from an early Norwegian Black Metal sound, it works well especially in the riffs and actually gives a little bit more variation to the album which again is nice given the style of music. The clean vocals are also a good addition and I wish they had been used more.
So yes as I said a lot of this ‘Viking Metal’ can sound the same, or even a bit boring. I mean even the classic With Oden On Our Side by Amon Amarth is pretty bland when you step back from it, I still love it but I think many will be able to see where I’m coming from. I do however think there is a lot of promise in Hjelvik, especially given some of the experimentation found throughout. One could argue that the album is a little too disjointed at points but I’m willing to forgive this given that it’s a debut and that it’s quite nice to see a lot of different ideas being brought to the table. I just hope that a potential follow-up record is a little more honed in on, and hopefully lacks some of those more Hardcore sounding tracks.
(8/10 George Caley)
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