Artist: Hela
Title: A Reign To Conquer
Type: Album
Label: Digital / Ardua Music / Tormo Records
I used to be a real doomhead a decade or so ago. Seriously. Proper doom, true doom, traditional doom or whatever you feel like calling it but, not for the first time, internal and external sources overwhelmed it and has gone underground once more until the coast is clear. But every now and then something pokes its head up – a riff here, a song there or, like Psalm’s ‘In Darkness…Show Mercy’ an album close enough to be a pleasant and excellent surprise.
Which brings me to Hela, a Spanish outfit who I was only acquainted with at all thanks to the Outlaws Of The Sun blog but had never followed up on do to my incompetence.
The opening riff; ponderous, heavy, melody twinkling in its twilight was a nice ‘punch me awake’ moment. But then that deep, mournful tune like strings came in and the clear but expressive vocals of Raquel Navarro rise and I am back in a world I had forgotten existed. Doom, but of a particular moment. The graceful sway of the guitar, the gentle moments they bring that grabbed me so easily are just gorgeous and names begin to whisper. Mirror Of Deception for one, but stepping just to the side The 3rd And The Mortal too. Grand names to conjure in just a few minutes but ‘Vessel To Nowhere’ does just that.
It’s a moment. A quite beautiful one.
‘The Infinite Tower’ begins so gently, so heart achingly melodic. The vocals when they rise have a little edge to them, that perfect sharpening to the expression of the heartfelt emotion like seasoning in a meal or salt in the wound. The music flows so beautifully; sedate but with a strong pumping heart. It builds into the kind of emotionally crushing music that I haven’t heard in so very very long. Oh, my heart… It is music that needs a dark room, firelight, a soft wine and your own thoughts turning a slow waltz in your mind. The way the guitars of Julian Velasco can smoothly, almost unnoticed lead you from the quiet to those moments of deep, intense energy is simply miraculous. The flexibility of the drumming of Miguel Fernandez to slip into a lower gear to power those moments and the rich flowing bass of Gimenez the rich undertow to it all granting body and depth.
‘Crystal Bridge’ is just devastating. A dark rippling intro that moves from softness and pain to cries of anguish riding the perfect doom riffing. The vocals crack around the edges, never losing their beauty but with such a desperate fragility added to them. Eight minutes pass but still it leaves you wanting more, leaves the need to cling to the song just a bit longer, please, just a bit longer…. Absolutely stunning.
Oh this isn’t just good, this is staggering. The deft composition, the way they move the songs from softness to heart shattering anguish is incredible. And kudos to the production here as well; it draws out the depth and the beautiful richness in every song, every slow riff and searing lead break. And sometimes the drumming just… just drives my heart.
‘Emerald Mirror’ begins more harshly than others somehow. A sense of anger? Perhaps. Maybe. But another facet of this fine band, a swirl of prime Katatonia playing melodic doom? Something like that, perhaps, but by this time Hela have more than created their own identity, their fantastic sound for me. ‘Architect Of Disorder’ has a smoother less turbulent feel. A dreamy quality wanders through the riff and the vocals, a tidal ebb and flow with the rise and fall. ‘Nomad’ closes in a world of perfect doom. It builds, carefully. Slowly. It cries out. There are quiet moments where I feel it is trying to reassure me somehow but the sense of despair lingers and always returns. A mesmerising end to a stunning album
Six songs of seven minutes or longer, not one outstaying its time. Hela’s weave of melodic doom is absolutely immaculate but, more importantly, it breathes true heartfelt emotion. The edges it hides within these soaring melodies cut so deep, so sharply it takes moments to notice but by then you are lost. Hela have you. Dreamlike. at times ethereal doom, swathed in soul touching melodies and heart wrenching displays whose strength of riff and rhythm is inescapable. This is a simply captivating, at times desperate cry of dark, mournful beauty. Open yourself to it and fall in love.
Gizmo
Walking The Liminal Space 