HELHEIM — Kaoskult (review)

HELHEIM — Kaoskult album cover Album · 2008 · Atmospheric Black Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4.5/5 ·
bonnek
Helheim made quite a leap from 'The Journeys of Death' to 'Kaoskult', from technical Black Metal with some progressive traits to a fully progressive style of black metal that reminds a lot of Enslaved, but that also stays closer to its Viking Metal roots. The difference with their clumsy beginnings is simply phenomenal. Fans of clean vocals better run for cover, nothing but screams and growls for 45 intense minutes. Olé!

Right from the first bars of music you know you're in for a psychedelic metal trip, with a dense atmosphere, heavy grooves and chromatic riffing in the tradition of Voivod and Enslaved. That last band could well be the leading motive throughout this review, as also Helheim has a career that goes back to the 90s and that started with pure 'Viking' black metal before they starting experimenting with sound, atmosphere and riffing style. On 'Kaoskult', that evolution reach a peak with an extreme prog metal album that doesn't only sound very much like 'Isa' but that also satisfies me just as much. Next to the Enslaved influences in chord progressions and grooves, 'Kaoskult' puts more focus on the atmosphere, with arpeggios that almost sound like Agalloch at times (check 'Andevind').

Except for the dark chants on the last track of the regular edition, Helheim don't use any clean vocals on this album. The rasping black and growling death vocals even enforce the atmosphere and are simply the perfect choice for this album. Needless to say this album will be a total turn-off for listeners that only want to hear melodic vocals. It's clearly not melody but mood and expression that are the key here.

Helheim found a small but quite unique spot inbetween Enslaved and Agalloch on this album, combining the Agalloch atmospheres and Floydian arpeggios with the groove, psychedelica and chromatic riffing from Enslaved's 'Isa'. I'm not sure it brought them much success as I found this album for 2$ at Amazon. A pity and maybe it explains why the band returned to a less progressive and more accessible and direct style on their next album. An extreme metal masterpiece for this psych-adept.
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