(Here’s TheMadIsraeli’s belated review of the latest release by Sweden’s Vildhjarta.)
THALL
Now that that’s out of the way…
It’s a shame I’m only just now reviewing this. Vildhjarta are easily one of the most important bands in the whole djent/prog-groove scene. Måsstaden was a masterpiece in the way it interwove djent, deathcore, and doom into a cohesive atomic sonic clusterfuck of sainthood. This EP, Thousands of Evils, sees a band already known for strange sounds and strange ideas experimenting even more. It’s cool, if for nothing else, that this is a band who are unafraid to put their mere fucking around out there and see how it’s received. The results are, as one would expect from these guys, dimension-opening.
All of the elements that made the band are still here: The relentless dual vocal assault, the guitar tone that sounds like a nuclear fallout, and of course Daniel Bergstrom’s brand of “how in the fucking fuck did he make that noise with a guitar?” style of riffing. What is impressive about Thousands of Evils is how balls to the wall it is, and how little of a fuck it gives for cohesion. Instead, it aims to achieve simply the most extreme reaches of whatever parts of the spectrum they hit. The heavy parts are gargantuan in stature, the clean ambient moments soul-cleansing. Continue reading »