Album Review: Helevorn – Espectres (Meuse Music Records)

Balearic atmospheric doom metal, Helevorn, will release their 5th full length album titled Espectres on the 13th of September via Meuse Music Records.

It’s been 5 years five years since Helevorn release their acclaimed album, Aamamata. An album that received rave reviews from fans and critics alike for it’s heavily atmospheric gloom and it’s elegant and classy delivery. Helevorn originally formed in 1999, 25 years ago, so, with them only hitting their 5th release now, a 5 year gap between albums is very much the norm. The long waits for releases appear to not hinder the connection that the band have with fans and a lot of that is due to their releases being worth the wait with immaculately crafted songs and stories created with a skilful, but gentle touch.

As a band, they have been mentioned as comparable to the likes of My Dying Bride, Paradise Lost, Draconian and Ixion, which is high praise indeed. For me, I have not come across Helevorn before so this is new but exciting territory with Espectres.

Espectres was produced, recorded and mixed at Psychosomatic Studios in Mallorca by Miquel Àngel Riutort, and has been mastered by Jens Bogren from Fascination Street Studios in Sweden. The album comes with artwork from Irene Serrano and is based on the hauntology coined by Jacques Derrida and more specifically on the book Ghosts Of My Life by philosopher and critic Mark Fisher.

Helevorn is Josep Brunet on vocals, Sandro Vizcaíno and Álex Correa on guitars, J.M. Rubio on bass, Pedro S. Bonnín on piano, keyboards with Sebastià Barceló as session drummer.

Espectres comes with 8 new tracks on it and a runtime of around 46 minutes and it’s pretty special. From the opening notes of Inherit The Stars, you quickly find yourself bedded in to the strong atmospherics. A slow and penetrating rhythm with strong drums and a twinkling of melody builds in before the harsh vocals bellow out. Those harsh sounds over the more melancholic melody of the keyboards and guitars creates a glorious contrast. Mixing the vocals later then between clean and harsh adds a further dynamic in a song that is really quite mesmerising to listen to. It’s a very strong start and a very high bar but one Helevorn reach again and again across Espectres.

The Defiant God utilises a winding guitar melody to drive it forwards through it’s gloomy and heavy verses before the more atmospheric keys add depth in the choruses where clean vocals take over still over a bed of thick riffing and crushing drums. Signals picks the pace up a touch really laying on the emption through the cracking keyboard melody. Try not headbanging to this one straight from the off! The riffs and drums hit hard in the verses which use clean vocals this time before transitioning into harsh growls and off kilter riffs and drums. It’s exciting and impactful to listen to with even more jaw dropping coming from me when a huge guitar solo that perfectly fits the song fires out courtesy of guest Biel Gayà from Trallery.

When Nothing Shudders drops down into doom and gloom with deep clean vocals, melancholic melody and the slowest of drum taps. It’s very beautiful and again has a real impact when the lead guitar jumps in. Helevorn also offer a nice change of pace here to make sure the album stays fresh. Stretched keyboard notes and backing add depth to a song that genuinely feels very sad and serene. It does start to change though as time passes, starting with a drop into an exciting and foreboding instrumental section before the harsh vocals take over along with increased riffing and pacier drum blasts. This is mind blowing stuff so far.

Unbreakable Silence kicks off the second half of Espectres and is the longest track on the album at over 7 minutes long. Extra time means more time for the band to play with your emotions in a song that oozes class. From the subtle start with it’s almost soothing melodies to the crunch of drums and riffs it leads into, you find yourself quickly invested. The song utilises all of the tricks and skills shown so far as we are moved through emotions. Clean singing and strong keyboard and atmospheric backing then harsh vocals and crunching riffs and drums before they all start mixing and we have harsh over soft sounds and cleans over harsh sounds.

It’s insanely well written and produced and is immensely listenable. I’m listening on a speaker right now and cannot wait to play this with headphones in so I can get fully lost in it all.

We must move on though with L’Endemà coming next and delivering another masterful song with lashings of heaviness through meaty riffs and harsh vocals. The melody shines through brightly with an additional twist delivered in the chorus with Catalan vocals delivered courtesy of guest vocalist, Inés González. One of the things I really admire so far on Espectres are the contrasts in sounds. The second verse passage delivers harsh vocals over a melancholic meandering guitar melody, the guest vocals are gorgeously smooth and silky in comparison to the harsh gutturals around it and the keys delivering a dreamlike backing while the guitars, bass and drums hammer away at times. It’s very intriguing and exhilarating.

The penultimate track is called The Lost Futures and sees Helevorn lay the doom and gloom on in a big way with a patient, moody and melodic intro. The pace stays insanely slow as the song switches to huge roared vocals drawn out to keep pace with the slow tempo. It’s grim, moody and hypnotising to listen to. So we move to the closing track on this impressive release with Children Of The Sunrise which comes with two more guests, the vocalist of the band Saturnus, Thomas A.G. Jensen and Jovan Milosevski on Spanish Guitar. The melancholy is prominent on this closing track, gentle guitar melody, gentle keys and clean vocals with plenty of harmonising gives your emotions a little shake up.

The darker and heavy vocals drop with barely a minute left as the drums pound and the guitars add a layer of crunch and melody to create a full and suffocating sound that closes out Espectres in spectacular fashion. Spectacular is the word really for what Helevorn have delivered here. The album hits differently, oozing class, professionalism and feeling in abundance. The variety on offer within the tracks and across the album means that you never, not even for a second, feel settled and switch off. Constant variations in power, loads of layers and contrasting sounds and then the additional work from the guests means each and every song stands out with it’s own identity.

Espectres is an album of the utmost quality that delivers a punch of moodiness, melancholy and emotion while managing to still be pretty damn heavy. It’s an album that deserves to be heard and once you listen to it, it’s going to be hard to stop repeating it over and over again.

Preorder yourself a copy of Espectres by Helevorn from the band’s website, here.

Helevorn Links

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