Artist: Hasswald
Country: Estonia
Label: Warhorn
Formats: Digital Demo
Year: 2025
With their great debut demo, ‘Und So Begann…’ the Estonian Hasswald came as a bit of a surprise. Not only for the somewhat obvious fact that there’s not many Estonian bands passing by to begin with, let alone ones that are able to capture your interest, but most because of their style of playing Black Metal. Hasswald is German for “Hate Forest’, and ‘Und So Begann…’ actually sounded quite a bit like the Ukrainian Black Metal phenomenon. So, when the band returned with their second demo, my interest was immediately piqued.
‘…Der Waldgang’, German for “the forest hike” feels like a natural continuation from what the band presented us some two years prior, yet it also offers quite a few new elements to digest. But first up, both demos start in similar fashion: tribal-like drums and incantatory vocals. The Black Metal that follows is in part built around the same fundamentals: raw and repetitive with an elusive propulsive drive. In that there is still a bit of that Eastern European echo, also found in Hate Forest, but Hasswald definitely gained much more of an identity of its own.
That newer guise is mainly found in the further implementing of that incantatory spirit that was already found in this demo’s intro. The hypnotic and compelling character of the music makes this almost 25-minute demo not only a splendid musical ride but also a spiritual adventure. The rougher bellowing vocals are more pronounced and are only one part of the diverse vocal palette: howling, shrieking, narrating and even some clean vocals make ‘…Der Waldgang’ a more than interesting second demo that shows that the band is on the right track, hiking their way to newer heights of creative success.
