| CD REVIEW Helrunar |
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Band: Helrunar Helrunar have been one of my preferred projects from Germany since the release of their 2003-debut demonstration recording Grátr (re-issued on CD through Lupus Lounge in 2009 – review posted on 17/09/2009). After the release of a split and two studio albums, Helrunar gained a modest ‘popularity’ within the European (worldwide?) scene, and both former full lengths were of an exceptionally high qualitative level. [FYI: in mean time, Tim ‘Dionysus’ Funke left, continuing with Under That Spell (which also consists of Helrunar’s live bass player Sin, by the way) - ivan] Sól isn’t just a double-album. Both parts, I and II, will be released separately, yet it needs to be seen as one totality. It will get released with a 50-page large format book, including exclusive illustrations. But most important: both discs do form a ‘whole’, it’s a cohesive concept. Title: Sól I – Der Dorn Im Nebel Der Dorn In Nebel is the first part and lasts for forty five minutes. After a short introduction, "Gefrierpunkt", Skald Draugir and his Helrunar bring wonderful tunes in the vein of the past. The Nordic approach gets defined in all possible directions: a rough, somewhat nihilistic sound, grim and icy atmospheres, changes in tempo and structure, the Old Style superiority, the Pagan-oriented approach, and so on.Helrunar, however, do not just perform Nordic Black Metal like many Scandinavian colleagues do. Because of the many slow parts and the asphyxiating sound, it comes with a funereal touch of obscurity, the archaic way. And more than once, the band injects its hymns with wonderfully composed technical outbursts.
Some parts are very short, which brings me to the conclusion that, indeed, the other tracks have a long average duration. But no matter if a song lasts for one or ten minutes: it is Helrunar, no doubt.
Remarkable too might be the use of ‘spoken words’, not just as ‘intro’ to some songs, yet also within the tracks – like final one "Ende 1.3". Sól I – Der Dorn Im Nebel is less epic and less fast than any effort from the past and in a way, a Post-Black mentality penetrates the mythological-oppressive deepness. Listen to the aggressive song Nebelspinne, for example, and you’ll hear what I mean. 90/100 Title: Sól II – Zweige Der Erinnerung Zweige Der Erinnerung starts comparison-wise to Sól I, with a spoken intro ("Europa Nach Dem Eis"), but this time this intro is suffocating already, and not ‘just introducing’. This second part of the Sól-saga is little more varying in its totality, and less complex as well (read: more comparable to "Baldr Ok Iss"), but undoubtedly composed and performed with the same intention and same aim: bringing Nordic underground-glory with a rather primitive basic (note: primitive does NOT mean anti-professional!). The tempo is varying, yet overall minisculiously faster and, especially, more rhythmic and pounding than the first part. Also the melodies (haha, what a lapsus, using such a word in Helrunar’s case) vary more than Sól I, and it includes a (limited) addition of acoustics – still less than the past (an important difference, making the whole not that intensively Viking/ Pagan-inspired, yet without losing the mythological contexts). Also the spoken words are more present this time. 87/100 Conclusion: this double-package is comparable to the past, yet it differs too (meaning: it does not just copy any former recording). Both individual parts, yet the totality as well, are more, much more oppressing, funereal, ominous and sinister than before; Sól is as complex, yet with increasing contradictorious elements, and therefore another highlight! Highly recommended to any fan of Nordic Underground Black Metal!!! Ivan Tibos. |
