(written by Islander)
Fighting their way forward since 2017, the Dutch black metal band Hellevaerder made their first large mark with a 2022 debut album (In de nevel van afgunst) and followed that with their appearance in Verloren vertellingen, a 2023 split with fellow members of the Zwotte Kring circle — Asgrauw, Schavot, and Duindwaler. And now they return again with a second full-length, Fakkeldragers (“Torchbearers”).
The album will be released on June 19th in a variety of formats by a triumvirate of labels — Void Wanderer Productions (NL), War Productions (PT), and Zwaertgevegt (NL) — and they recommend it for fans of Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult, Emperor, Mayhem, and Sargeist.
What we have for you today, as a preview of the delirium and damnations the album brings, is a first listen to the album track “Handen geketend in ijzer” (which might be translated as “Hands chained in iron”). But first, here’s some background about the album’s thematic conception — which continues a narrative Hellevaerder began in their first album:
That debut album began a tale of a guardian of light defending the will to live while worshippers of nothingness defended the need to perish the soul, becoming one with the universe. (The band itself seems to portray these roles, with vocalist Miranda Visser as the guardian clad in white and her bandmates the worshippers of nothingness hooded in black robes.) Here’s how they describe the next chapter in the new album:
In this saga the guardian is captured and dragged into the gates of eternal slavery, a world made from darkness. Light tries to find its way through the tiniest of openings, and the duality remains. After the capture she remains to find the will to live. The light conquers all, she said. But dying means enlightenment. After being dragged away towards the gates of nothingness she remains faithful to life. The will to live conquers the need to die…
The worshippers of nothingness are warriors of the unlight, the eternal stare-off between the everlasting wisdom in the here and now, foretold in 9 stories. You will be dragged down and be held captive. Forced to endure the tales of awakening. A way to deal with everyday life, a duality of wanting to, and needing to.
Death is nothing but a granted right, the whispers of the damned are chanting the echoes; ‘Death is liberating…’
Do not force yourself on these nine chants,
Those chants could redefine the process of lifeCelebrate life – Worship death
With that conceptual framework in mind, let’s turn now to “Handen geketend in ijzer“, a song that’s relentlessly gripping and intense, but with changes in mood and sound that make it seem like a narrative all its own.
In the song itself you can hear the conflict between light and dark, between life and death, as a narrative structure unfolds in an unearthly realm. Deploying guitars that meld sounds which are rough and raw and others that add a strange shine, they immediately create an ominous and poisonous atmosphere, dismal and perilous.
Beneath them a powerful bass throbs and thrusts, and the drums jolt and crack the whip. The guitars elevate, searing and shining more brightly, creating wondrous but frightening swaths of sound — a prelude to conflict boiling over in hammering percussion, dense swarming riffage, and a phalanx of vicious snarls, harrowing roars, mad howls, and caustic screams.
The music continues changing. The mood of the music grows desperate as the lead guitar’s ringing tones slowly slither, trailing agony (almost like a mournful violin), and the vocals vent extravagant cries. The music also expands and sweeps, becoming panoramic and grand — but its grandeur is still dark (you’ll notice a vibrant bass performance going on that even those stricken sonic panoramas don’t conceal).
Yet the intense conflict resumes, even more desperate and damaging, and the vocals bring out the fanatical insanity of the participants as the riffing conjoins sensations of viciousness and violence, bleakness and pain. By the end you get a strong sense that the musical narrative isn’t finished — and indeed it isn’t.
HELLEVAERDER is :
Miranda Visser – vocals
Daan Bleumink – drums
Luuk Steemers – bass
Arjen Kleiss – guitar
Bas Cuperus – guitar
Fakkeldragers will be released by the labels named above on CD, vinyl LP, and cassette tape formats, with a digital edition available as well. Find pre-orders and more info about the band via the links below.
PRE-ORDER:
CD shipping from NL: https://voidwanderer.com/product/hellevaerder-fakkeldragers-cd/
CD shipping from PT: https://war-productions.org
Vinyl: https://www.zwaertgevegt.nl/product/hellevaerder-fakkeldragers-12/
Tape: https://www.zwaertgevegt.nl/product/hellevaerder-fakkeldragers/
Digital: https://hellevaerder.bandcamp.com/
HELLEVAERDER:
https://hellevaerder.com/
https://hellevaerder.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/hellevaerder
https://www.instagram.com/hellevaerder