Welcome to Hel

Album review

Two years after his departure from his Norwegian band, the former Kvelertak frontman Erlend Hjelvik returns with his first solo album, determined to do it his way. With Nattesferd in 2016, the Stavenger natives had offered a third album decidedly more rooted in the heavy and black metal roots that Erlend liked, to the detriment of the punk influences that might have made the charm of the band. It is thus with Welcome To Hel that Erlend decided to load the canons after four years out of the studio. Highly inspired by Viking folklore, this first solo adventure is epic, grandiloquent and above all excellently composed. We find heavy metal mixed with doom and black influences bringing us straight back to Kvelertak's third album, but with a much more assertive intention.

From the very first notes of Father War, it is like a charge of bloodthirsty soldiers that comes down on us at a frantic rhythm. The intention of the album is clear: to blend the aforementioned influences of thrash and rock'n'roll. Erlend offers us a masterfully crafted manifesto, full of generous moments both in technique and quivering detail. Yet the frontman does not forget what he does best and thinks of the crowds from all over the world that he will have to tame once on tour. Behind this range of technical skills lies a real sense of lyricism: catchy choruses that one will be delighted to shout once in the pit. We can only bow when the firebrands like Glory of Hel, Kveldulv or North Tsar come to grab us so as not to let us go. Special mention to the two guests of the album: Matt Pike (Sleep / High on Fire) and Mike Scalzi (Slough Feg) who bring with them an umpteenth dose of testosterone, as if it was needed.

Inspired, accessible and a true manifesto of war, Welcome To Hel is an incredible ride from start to finish. Handling its influences as few know how, the rock'n'roll discharge tinged with heavy, black, doom and thrash is one of the best metal releases of the year. Maxime Archambaud/Qobuz