Artist: Helheim
Country: Norway
Label: Massacre Records
Formats: CD
Year: 2003
Helheim hasn’t been an unknown band in the (Norwegian) black metal scene for years, but by now they’ve become a bit of an odd duck in the crowd. There is no band with a similar connotation, they have put their very own spin on their pagan/viking sound, infused with an industrial flavour and some thrashy solos. They have distanced themselves far from all the cheap current clichés in black metal, something that with this music is definitely for the better.
And with this album the previous steps have only been taken further. This does not improve the ease of listening, but the one who listens beyond just the first impression does find a good and solid sounding, innovative but above all good black metal disc! Several cool passages with piano or acoustic guitar do make the overall picture even more interesting. The band has definitely progressed in terms of songwriting and the band sounds a lot more mature. It’s all perfectly put together, and also production-wise there is little to complain about… Still, something gnaws. It seems like something is missing or has changed so much since their first CD ‘Jormundgand’, but I don’t know exactly what it is, could it be the screeching? Or is it just a matter of a logical evolution in a band’s discography? It’s no longer unusual for Norwegian bands to evolve to a different sound, and in fact I care very little about that. But there always remains a strange feeling… But that doesn’t mean that this is a bad album. On the contrary… I like it very much, but with an ambivalent feeling. I know they can do better, although ‘better’ in this case is a bit questionable, if they can combine their qualities as musicians and songwriters with the feeling of ‘back in the day’ then they can surpass themselves. But otherwise no bad words about this otherwise good album!
