Album Review: Hädangången – Vädjan

Band: Hädangången
Title: Vädjan
Label: Independent
Release date:  March  28th,  2026
Country: Sweden
Format reviewed: High-Quality Digital Recording

Album Review: Hädangången – Vädjan by Sílvia

There’s something alluring in the music that Vindsval creates with Hädangången. Because it’s not just instruments playing notes, or harmonies, or he putting his harsh voice at the service of the stories he wants to tell. There’s a big emotional burden in his songs, a connection with nature that one can’t skip, a sense of belonging and, at the same time, of fading away… Hard to put into words as this music resonates a lot in me. Maybe too much, but hey, this wasn’t supposed to be a smooth ride… 

Because, when it comes to Scandinavian atmospheric black metal, it’s always something more. Hädangången goes beyond music, making the listener shudder and feel the cold bite of extreme winters from up North, and the desolate message in the lyrics, through agonic and desperate vocals, penetrates to the very depths of the soul. 

“Vädjan” (“Appeal”) is the second full-length album released by Hädangången, following the debut EP from 2023 “Likfärd” (“Funeral Procession”) and the LP from 2024 “Tomhet” (“Emptiness”). It continues delivering raw, atmospheric black metal bonded with nature in a very special way: catching all the essence of the Scandinavian forests, pouring all the emotions into the icy tremolo riffs and the agonic screams. And the drums, I must mention, the way they are played… they are so vivid, it feels like the kit is being smashed right in front of me at the moment of listening to the music. Well, I simply love their sound.

“Svält” (“Starvation”) opens, it’s the longest track clocking more than 8 minutes, and it starts calmly, all the instruments settling a cold atmosphere for a while; but then they turn into something that may seem chaotic: drums become overwhelming with those fast tempos, guitars start playing icy riffs and harmonies and the vocals are like desperate laments, screaming in anguish. When in the middle of the song there’s a pause, you can breathe for some air, relieved by the sound of rain… just before falling again into a whirlwind of emotions and a totally insane guitar that seems to be drawing a reckless line over a frozen lake about to break. That’s how Vindsval merges the fragility of life with the strength of surviving even in the most hostile circumstances.

Then it follows a delicious instrumental song, “En vals till döden” (“A waltz to death”) that totally captivates me; it lets the emotions overflow to the rhythm of a waltz, at times delicate, at times intense. The metallic sound of guitars is encompassed by drums and enhanced by the bass, and all together sound like a celebration, mixing beauty and despair. It’s full of melancholy and sadness, but at the same time it becomes bright in some way. An artwork was created for this single by an artist known as Majara, you should check out the stunning painting that perfectly represents a waltz where death and life entwines as one. The forest and the mountains as the background makes the image perfect, and a silent owl stands as the sole witness to this transcendental moment.

“Dekadens” (“Decadence”) is raw, agonic, at times even obsessive. Driven by the rhythm of a waltz, guitar is cold and hypnotic; lyrics talk about the unavoidable end to life, and the vocal performance by Vindsval borders on agony. Merging dramatic and melancholic passages with the beauty contained in a waltz, it’s an explosion of feelings that lead us to the acceptance of death as the final of everything. 

Lyrics in this album depict cold and bleak landscapes, while talking about decadence, death and despair; Vindsval uses his mother tongue for the lyrics, and the sonority of Swedish language fits perfectly the music. He claims to be inspired by the European traditions and by Swedish cultural heritage, and the bound with the land; and the decay it all has gone through, also losing that spiritual connection with nature. I think this can be a source of suffering for most sensitive souls, and this raw music can be a balm in some way.

The last track, “Granskog” (“Spruce forest”) is really special. Built on the enveloping sound of synths, it creates an atmosphere of calm, as if you had finally arrived at a comfortable place to stay. In brutal contrast with the previous song, “Jordens sista suck” (“The Earth’s last sigh”), which depicts the total death of everything on Earth through obsessive tremolo riffs, overwhelming pounding drums and a totally torn voice. But in the closing theme, synths build an ethereal landscape where owls are calling each other to set that connection with nature, a characteristic feature in Vindsval’ music. By listening to this track, I can imagine being in the middle of the forest barefoot, in the dusk; a gentle breeze swaying the branches of the trees, the owls’ conversation… I can almost feel the cold, smell the forest and visualize the dark sky with plenty of stars. Humans shouldn’t have lost the connection with nature, but… it seems we’ve lost everything along the way. Such a shame.

The artwork for Vädjan, done by Vindsval, shows the feeling of belonging to nature. There’s a forest and some of the creatures that inhabit there: the owls and a deer. Also, the observation hut from which to observe them, and the most distant trees fading into the fog, all these elements together create a very cool and evocative image, served in black and white. Really beautiful. 

I can lose myself into Hädangången music and feel it as a catharsis, it’s something extremely liberating, the world around me simply disappears. And I can’t express with better words how great this is; the process is painful but in the end my soul is healed. Thank you Vindsval for this fantastic album… again.  9,5/10

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9,5/10 Epic Storm
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