Heljarmadr – A Poison to the Firmament

Band: Heljarmadr
Title: A Poison to the Firmament
Label: Heljarmadr Productions
Release date:  January  1st,  2025
Country: International 
Format reviewed: High-Quality Digital Recording 

Heljarmadr (the artist) released his first solo song, “Transcending into a God” back in September 2020. And maybe it’s because he’s been pretty busy with his bands, Grá and Dark Funeral, that it has taken a while for him to recruit some musicians in order to create new music. Now Heljarmadr offers to the Metal world two new songs, with a complete official lineup as a band.

Let me introduce you to the members in Heljarmadr:

Andreas “Heljarmadr” Vingbäck – vocals, guitars, keyboards
Fredrik Isaksson – bass
Dennis Ekdahl – drums
Sarah Jezebel Deva – vocals (female)
Kakophonix – cello
Bruno Sá – keyboards, saxophone

And, what’s cooking in these new songs?… Digging a bit into the music, I’d dare to say that it’s a gathering of experienced musicians unleashing their creativity in the form of other type of music that don’t have a place in their respective bands. There’s also some experimentation, with a Black Metal basis, and the result is awesome. I can feel some Cursed 13 vibes too here and there, which I don’t find strange at all, after all it was Heljarmadr (the artist) who started this band… 

While the use of cello and saxophone put the atmospheric and very special stuff in this EP, the whole instrumentation sounds super heavy, overwhelming, dark and grim. I love how the first song, “A Poison to the Firmament”, changes a lot in tempos, intensity and menacing ambiance. The jazzy passage in which the saxophone takes control, along with Sarah Jezebel haunting vocals, is simply delicious, and it’s followed by a calmer interlude involving cello and piano, which is in my opinion an outstanding point in this song. It creates an aura of mystery and anticipation for what will be happening after that. And what comes next is a hellish duet, deep and dark male growls along with a clean and powerful female voice that gives me goosebumps because of the ghostly intonation. Drums are beaten mercilessly, guitars and bass create the perfect cradle from where the vocals emerge in perfect harmony.

And regarding “All Days are Black”, here’s another melodic and atmospheric piece of Heljarmadr’s musical universe, with keyboards used as an eerie envelope for the rest of instrumentation. The bass sounds thick and prominent, drums play plenty of varied demolishing patterns, and guitars do a very good work, be it chugging in the background or playing tremolo riffs. Heljarmadr vocals are fierce, while Sarah Jezebel voice imprints some mystery with a dubbed effect that gives her splendor in this track.

This is a fantastic offering by these six musicians gathered under the name of Heljarmadr, now let’s wish they will continue unleashing their creativity with more songs soon… to keep on feeding their flame. 9/10 by Sílvia

NOTE: if you want a physical copy of the EP, they are exclusively available via email order to:  order@heljarmadr.com 

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9/10  Epic Storm
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