Being absent from the music scene for ten years is not something that any ordinary band can come back from, but those who know are already acutely familiar with the fact that Vildhjarta are no ordinary band.  2021’s måsstaden under vatten saw them triumphantly take up the thall mantle once more, despite major lineup shifts, and fortunately we have not had to wait anywhere near a decade for the follow up, + där skogen sjunger under evighetens granar + (“Where the forest sings under the eternal spruce trees”, translated from Swedish).  The end result can really only be described with one word, and you probably already know what that word is…

…thall: the nonsense moniker for the brand of angular, crushing and yet deeply melodic brand of progressive metal Vildhjarta pioneered so long ago on their debut album måsstaden (not to be confused with their aforementioned sophomore comeback with a very similar name).  The name originates from the Swedish pronunciation (or mispronunciation, depending on who you ask) of the character Thrall from World of Warcraft, of all things, but now according to the band it means whatever you want it to mean.  As far as Vildhjarta’s music goes, it means incredibly downtuned, chugging riffs, jarring bursts of nigh-incomprehensible melodies, liberal use of Whammy Pedals and guttural bellows over surprisingly delicate clean harmonies and electronic washes.  Equal parts light atmosphere and intense brutality, thall is a genre that really only Vildhjarta can do with the high level of precision they consistently pull off, even with a long hiatus in the middle of their career.  Musically, där skogen doesn’t stray far from the path, although it does feel like everything Vildhjarta is known for has been turned up to eleven: the heaviness is greatly intensified, the melodic parts are more mournful and more overtly melodic as opposed to being mostly the kind of jarring, atonal noodling associated with the band, and the atmosphere is even deeper and more prevailing, with a greater emphasis on electronics as a backbone for the dozen tracks on där skogen.  där skogen is still monolithic and dense, and certainly far from newbie friendly, but longtime fans will be excited for more music under this particular brand.

Importantly, där skogen also marks another major lineup shift in Vildhjarta: founding guitarist Daniel Bergström and longtime bassist Johan Nyberg are notably absent, leaving Vildhjarta a trio and without any original members left.  This is a far cry from the måsstaden Vildhjarta that had two singers and three guitarists in a band of seven.  Still, remaining vocalist Vilhelm Bladin and sole guitarist (and part-time bassist) Calle Thomér have been with the band since måsstaden, and drummer (and also part-time bassist) Buster Oldeholm continues behind the throne after joining for måsstaden under vatten, so it’s not like it’s all brand new people flying the banner.  It wouldn’t exactly be fair to say that där skogen represents addition by subtraction, but what you get isn’t something radically different from any other Vildhjarta release, which is comforting in the face of turnover.  The trio hold their own quite well, especially Oldeholm, who I think puts forth an exceptional performance from start to finish.  Tracks like “+ två vackra svanar +” and “+ ? regnet, the ? +” (fellas, come on now…) are prime examples of the thall grindset in action.  The riffs are so obscenely heavy as to crush one into a perfectly two dimensional object, and just when the cloyingly dense guitars are reaching the point of being overwhelming, a little burst of upper-register melody spontaneously appears to violently shift you into another place, musically speaking.  Bladin’s signature roar over the top of everything even gets sparingly toned down into actual clean singing, which serves to compliments the clean guitars and the electronics that underpin everything.

+ där skogen sjunger under evighetens granar + isn’t going to be an album that appeals to everyone, but that’s okay.  It’s not supposed to be.  You either thall or you don’t, and if you do then this album is going to scratch the itch that only Vildhjarta can effectively scratch.  There are many who pretend to the throne, but in spite of time and tumult, there is still only one band out there that can claim that mantle.

— Ian

---

+ där skogen sjunger under evighetens granar + is available now on Century Media Records.  For more information on Vildhjarta, visit their Facebook page.