Hädangången – Tomhet
Band: Hädangången
Title: Tomhet
Label: Independent
Release date: November 2nd, 2024
Country: Sweden
Format reviewed: High-Quality Digital Recording
“Tomhet” (“Emptiness” in Swedish) is the debut full-length album by Hädangången, the solo project of Vindsval (also in the Black Metal band Mara). We had a very good taste of his music when he released his previous EP in June last year, “Likfärd”, we already could feel the agony and icy desolation that soaks those 5 tracks. And now, in “Tomhet”, Vindsval has done it again, and I’d dare to say that the feelings are even more intense…
Just by looking at the cover of the album, you can have an idea of what’s inside. The dominant gaze of the owl, it seems to be staring at you with intensity, like a profound and judgemental mirror. And under the owl’s eyes there’s a hanged man, a black silhouette suspended in front of the thick and dark Scandinavian forest. There’s also a wood cabin there, and in front of it, almost under the hanging man, there is someone on the ground, totally bent over, who seems to be desperately crying with grief for its loss… We are witnessing the scene in a clearing between the trees, and all of a sudden I feel all the desolation, the emptiness, the deep sorrow that Vindsval wants to convey through this artwork. What a depressive image, I can connect with it. Total darkness. Death. Grief. Agony. Can’t imagine a better way to portray the music that’s in the album.
Good artwork is important to me in order to make me feel eager about the music, I am more likely to listen to an album if the cover grabs my attention. And I swear this one does. And the best thing is that the songs exceed my expectations. Vindsval takes the Scandinavian frozen and desolate landscape and makes music of it. And the result is some of the most depressive, dark, raw and emotional Black Metal I’ve ever listened to. The sound of the icy wind freezes me, the owl seems to be calling me to join there, and the raw instrumentation makes all the rest, along with the bleak vocals.
The raw guitars play endless and hypnotic icy riffs, while drums run sometimes at a mid tempo, other times with more speed and blast beats but always being at the perfect pace in every occasion, emphasizing the feeling of total devastation. The use of keys, the wind effects, the sounds of an owl, a swinging rope… all these things are placed perfectly in every song, to create this overwhelming album.
The instrumental piece “Nattlig bekännelse” (“Night confession”) is full of alluring darkness. The cold wind blowing and some bells chiming (it seems like an old pendulum clock) push you to a short journey of total emptiness, you are guided by the owl through the forest, while listening to the hypnotic instrumentation. There are only guitars and keys entwining in dark melodies, and then the lead guitar rips through the air to offer a painful lament… And the following track, “Kampen till friheten” (“The fight for freedom”) is devastating, the agonic passage in the middle with only a few guitar and keyboard notes leads you to a more painful journey, as it was in the beginning.
Vindsval does an incredibly killer work with his voice in “Tomhet”, his screams are pure anguish, he seems to be tearing his soul to pieces, showing his bleak emotions and making the listener be part of his grief, his desperation… his agony. What a vocal performance… It really hurts. And it’s beautiful.
Lyrics talk about loneliness, extreme suffering, loss, death… Of course I needed a translator, Vindsval sings in his mother tongue and his agonic vocals are not understandable even if you are Swedish I guess.
In fact, the entire album hurts. I’ve been listening to it on repeat for three days, and it’s been a painful experience… I couldn’t help but completely immerse myself in these songs for one reason: I can feel this pain, this emptiness, this soul in total grief. I haven’t experienced a suicide nor a violent death in my surroundings but in some way the feelings expressed through Hädangången‘s music speak to me, touch me, bring me to dark places I thought I didn’t want to visit. But I did. And, at the same time, every time the album ends I am relieved, I feel renewed, the grief is there but I can leave it behind, so it has a cleansing effect on me.
If you are really in the mood for one of the darkest and utterly agonic albums in Black Metal, then I highly recommend this one to you. 10/10 by Sílvia
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