Band : Heljareyga
Album title : Heljareyga
Label : Black Bards
Distributor : Sonic Rendezvous
Release date : 29/10/2010
Release : CD

That Northern bands almost always stand for high quality in metal music is a fixed truism, but some just seem to have oceans of time and energy. Take Heri Joensen from Tyr as an example. He has been the frontman of Tyr since 2002 and still, he managed to find enough time to team up with four other musicians to release the debut album of his solo project, which is called Heljareyga. The work of Heljareyga is technically and musically much more progressive than anything else we've already heard and seen from Joensen. In addition, it immediately sounds very personally written.
Lending your ears to this album, you might think you're listening to an EP, since Heljareyga only contains five tracks. However, each track lasts about eight minutes, which makes it quite a long album after all. Don't get scared off because of this, because I can firmly say that every song has a high level of perfect melodic metal which strongly reminds us of a band such as Ensiferum.
As a conclusion, I can say that, with Heljareyga, Heri Joensen has created a strong debut album, which makes me long for more.

82/100

Tim