(written by Islander)
The Danish band Helge describe their amalgam of black and death metal as “spiritual metal”. Of course, many other metal bands also invoke spiritual concepts, but more often that not they’re talking about such things as diabolical spirits of vengeance, malign alien gods that venture forth from the void, or getting fueled up by ethanol spirits and running wild. That is not what Helge mean.
Instead, they delve into themes that include the presence of common bonds among people, the need to make a less violent world more nurturing of nature (and each other), and other ideas that point toward spiritual uplift rather than downfall. Their most recent album, Gidinawendimin (released on November 1st of last year) is (as they explained) “an ancient word from the Ojibwe people that means ‘we are all related.'”
Last year we premiered an exhilarating video for the album’s closing song “Keep the Fire Burning,” a song that lyrically exhorts listeners to “stand aside from ego,” to forsake anger and poison, to “return to the core of the spirit,” and thus to become reborn, and to rise.
And now we have another video premiere for yet another emotionally powerful song from that same album. This one is “Zoongide`e“. Continue reading »
