VILDHJARTA
dar skogen sjunger evighetens granar
Century Media Records
For Swedish djent-centrics VILDHJARTA, every release seems like an exercise in "Battle Royale" or "Thunderdome" - a process of elimination where the ranks thin and only the strong survive for the next time out. The 2011 debut album Måsstaden featured a seven-member lineup with two vocalists and three guitarists. By the time 2013's Thousands of Evils EP rolled around, third guitarist Jimmie Åkerström was gone.
For 2021's monumental Måsstaden under vatten, VILDHJARTA was a quintet, having shed second vocalist Daniel Ädel. And despite half the length of time in between, the changes are more profound for the new dar skogen sjunger evighetens granar, where the lineup is whittled down to the trio of guitarist Calle Thomér, vocalist Vilhelm Bladin and drummer Buster Odeholm, with no original members left following the departure of founding guitarist Daniel Bergström.
But as ambitious, demanding and increasingly unconventional as VILDHJARTA's sound has been over the years, it's easy to see how this would be a tough unit to hang with over the long haul. Mashing together the dexterity and occasional wankery of PERIPHERY or TESSERACT, the bludgeon and heft of MESHUGGAH and the math-metal spasmodics of DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN with progressive meandering and free-jazz flights of fancy, VILDHJARTA's bluster can be captivating, concussive and confounding, often from moment to moment.
With the tongue-twisting dar skogen sjunger evighetens granar - or "where the forest sings under the eternal spruce trees" - the band's histrionics have grown weightier and denser while at the same time seemingly becoming more extemporaneous. The music sounds largely free form, often bereft of any sort of conventional structure as it lurches, stutter-steps, jogs and pounds away. The Swedish titles and lyrics only add to the opacity, even with the intermittent cleans Bladin employees to contrast his otherwise burly roar.
Stripped of much of the sprawl and bloat that saw Måsstaden under vatten balloon to over 80 minutes, dar skogen sjunger evighetens granar is certainly a tidier package, even at 12 songs and 56 minutes. But despite their being fewer hands to manage the work - indeed Odeholm plays both drums and bass- the band doubles down on the twists, turns and outright brutality.
The term "heavy as fuck" certainly applies here. A thicker bottom end and even droppier-tuned guitars, for lack of a better description, ensure that the bulk of dar skogen sjunger evighetens granar works the body like Mike Tyson in his heyday, wearing some poor bastard down before unleashing a haymaker to the jaw and then its lights out. Just about every song is like that, which makes for a pretty punishing package to sit through from start to finish.
That's not to say there's a complete lack of listener friendliness - relatively speaking, at least - here, you just have to be patient and listen close. Thomer weaves serpentine melody lines here and there atop his jarring, herky-jerk riffs, notably on "två vackra svanar" ("two beautiful swans") and "sargasso" ("eleven"), and there are abundant washes of synths that accentuate the quieter moments and take some of the edge off the overall bombast.
But given the relative dearth of "songiness", VILDHJARTA almost force you to do take the whole thing in all at once since there are no obvious jumping off points or tracks you can simply groove to and then go. It's pretty much see things through to the end - or bust.
3.0 Out Of 5.0
