Of all the wonderful music that 2021 has delivered to our ears when everything else has been far from getting back to normal, to say that Helheim’s eleventh (yes really) album comes with a great deal of anticipation would not be an understatement. The black, psychedelic Vikings from Bergen have always been pushing the boundaries and perfecting their Skaldic art which saw last album Rignir hitting hard as an absolute pinnacle of everything they have achieved thus far. Bolstered by a great showcase of the material with labelmates Madder Mortem and Vulture Industries in Camden it remains an album that is still hard to put down and one that remains a firm favourite. How can they possibly follow it up is the question that I had on my mind before I slipped the disc in the player with a certain amount of trepidation? Well, I need not have worried as 51 minutes later I was sitting there stunned and pretty much blown away. It’s always difficult listening to a favourite band and a first play normally goes over your head but in this case, there was an immediacy to the material on display. I knew straight off this was rather special and that I was going to thoroughly enjoy repeated spins over a long-time scale, on another album that will prove impossible to not keep coming back to.
There is a sublime warmth here that is indisputable due to the harmonies, melody and clean vocal parts. That might not quite be what you are wanting to hear but believe you me there is plenty of extremity on display here too from a band who are certainly not forgetting their harsher roots. Woduridar is a “wild ride” and then some. From the opening notes of ‘Vilje av stål’, there is a ‘will of steel’ wrapping itself around you and as the drums thunder in like a violent storm, their obliterating wrath is nothing short of breath-taking. Harsh guttural and throaty yells are totally venomous and the glistening showers from the guitar work (sorry I meant to keep the weather metaphors to a minimum) are absolutely gorgeous to behold. As the clean vocals duel with the harsher parts, we really do get the best of both worlds as the intricate and perfectly composed instrumentation takes you off to what feels like a higher plane of existence. The psychedelic swirls as the track grandiosely moves into ‘Forrang for fiender’ are textured with swooning harmonies and dextrous guitar weaving, the atmosphere is one of yearning and nostalgia and the music continuously moves forward without gap between songs building steadfastly to ever glorious new heights. Surging strumming gives the title track a furrowing and bristling pervasiveness, those rafter hitting croons and next injection of delirious harmony never far behind.
Everything is perfectly co-ordinated from V’gandr and H’grimnir’s composition work to the production of Vulture Industries Bjørnar Nilsen and mix courtesy of ex Enslaved man Herbrand Larsen. ‘Åndsfilosofen’ ‘The Spirit Philosopher’ provides pause for thought whist retaining a brooding malevolence and has a less stifling flow injecting a sense of depth around the meandering instrumentation; the timpani booms casting added sense of drama. As for ‘Ni s soli sot,’ just wait till you hear the melodic perfection as its main theme embraces you and refuses to let go; that is until the smog of psyche, clouds the mind momentarily making you wonder if you had accidently ingested a hallucinogen. Bells clang and the dreamy surface mutates with what sounds like sitar. Have the Vikings gone hippy and embraced the bong? Well, you don’t need to partake in the green stuff for it to all sound magnificent as it stews your head. From hurtling headlong to a vocal passage that reminds of Solefald ‘Litil vis made’ is a solid, granite rock and Tankesmed ‘Sage’(ly) buoys with magnificent vocal croons and some jagged guitar work.
Everything culminates with the epic 12-minute ‘Det kommer i bølger,’ which indeed ‘comes in waves.’ It’s almost as though the band are saying “wish you were here” as they dip us down into a hazy Floydian rabbit hole on what evolves into a remarkable piece of passionate, progressive music leaving me comfortably numb and drifting away on the wings of delirium.
I’m not sure quite how it will affect things having not got it on my promo copy but there is another track Hazard listed on some versions. I guess I am going to have to wait to hear that along with everyone else but even without it there is no doubting that Helheim have delivered another amazing album and a sure contender for many year-end lists.
(9.5/10 Pete Woods)
Leave a Reply