Another addition to my list of ‘I’ve heard of them but never heard them’ are today’s specimens Vanhelgd, not to be confused with DSBM band Vanhelga, whom I would recommend also if you haven’t heard them. Vanhelgd do however also come from Sweden and have a good helping of full lengths to their name. Having formed in 2007 this new album Atropos Doctrina marks the bands sixth LP effort. Coming through Dark Descent Records how does it match up for a newcomer like myself?

Kicking into gear with Saliga äro de dödfödda the album opens with mournful Blackened vocals amid a progressive and building melancholic backing of sorrowful guitars and miserable sounding drums. Indeed, this would appear to be the theme, although once things really kick in with some Thrashing speed it becomes some sort of fist pumping cathartic experience. Musically Vanhelgd appear to be quite hard to pin down which becomes apparent during Kom dödens tysta ängel. To call them simply Death or Black Metal is a discredit to their more fluid overall Extreme Metal display, elements of both persist yet it doesn’t strike me as strictly Blackened Death Metal, more Black and Death Metal (sorry, now we’re really splitting hairs). As the drab (drab being a term of endearment) display continues in Ofredsår I find myself drawn into this brilliant pained offering of super ‘trve’ or ‘kvlt’ material, forever a sucker for this brand of underground filth the band show themselves as not reinventing the wheel but giving off some brilliant energy for those who fly the true Metal flag.

I ovigd jord continues to bring the big riffs as it crosses the middle of the album, that is one thing to say for Vanhelgd, they absolutely nail melodic passages. They might not come across as desperately technical or innovative but they deliver with brilliance. All things considered though by the time Atropos Hymnarium rolls in I find myself a touch weary. The music remains well done and excellent but the somewhat generic nature begins to take its toll. As I said before the band appear to straddle between Black and Death Metal without leaning too much one way or the other and I love that, and I love what they’re presenting but at the same time it’s not really anything I haven’t heard before. Galgdanstid keeps the riffs thundering on and the vocals maintain their Blackened rasp but it really is just more of the same, and this trait continues right through to the end of the release.

All in all Vanhelgd play it very safe to retain their ‘trve’ sound and I absolutely respect that, sometimes it’s all I want. That said the innovation simply isn’t there. In a strange way the band remind me of In Solitude or Tribulation with their almost Gothic misery however both those bands offer quite a unique sound whereas Vanhelgd simply don’t. Excellent at what they do, and I’d happily try another album or even listen again but it’s nothing to get you really excited.

(7/10 George Caley)

https://www.facebook.com/vanhelgd

https://darkdescentrecords.bandcamp.com/album/atropos-doctrina