Review by Michael on December 19, 2024.

"In times of fire, in times of war" - it is really sad that the first words on the album reflect the worlds' situation that is so drastic and true. So it's also not a big surprise that Ereb Altor on their already 10th full-length album sounds very angry and harsh. The first track on Hälsingemörker is 'Valkyrian Fate' is a quite fast song which combines the typical trademarks of the Swedes. Clean vocals mixed with harsh black metal shouts and all of that is underlined with some dramatic Scandinavian melodies and an atmospheric keyboard.

But what turns out to be clear is that Ereb Altor focused more on some sad and pensive sounds on their new output. Sure, there is the typical riffing they did on their previous albums, too but the main arrangements appear to sadden the mind much more.

'Ättestupan' is a very good example for this. Kept quite doomy and dark, the song structures are highly melodic with emotions that might make you feel very unsettling and sad. Mats' bright vocals underline this hopelessness and sadness, maybe it is also to blame to the vocals mix that make them hall pretty much. Apart from these stylistic tricks, the pace is kept in a very strange rhythm, just like what Cannibal Corpse did on their last album with their title track "Chaos Horrific".

'The Last Step' though is much faster and sounds like a desperate trip through the vast winter landscapes of a deep frosted Sweden. Here you have all emotions – hope, desperation, hate and resignation altogether. Yeah, okay it is also their longest track on Hälsingemörker but this doesn't mean often too much. But not here, this song is super epic and diverse. Maybe one of their most diverse and best ones ever, I'd say.

What I cannot say from 'The Waves, The Fire And The Pyre' unfortunately. This song ripples through its over 7 minutes running time and not too much happens here. You have a certain atmosphere here, all fine but this is too much atmosphere and too little action. Just like sailing when there is calm on the lake. Sorry, but this, you can do better! 'Skögsrået' is another one that doesn't excite me too much because of too little tension. But this one turns out a bit better because of the traditional Swedish violin that appears here. But again, a little bit more would be fine.

Fortunately these two songs are the only ones that are falling off the quality of the album and with 'Vi Är Mörkret' they offer us a fast disgusting black metal song with evil vocals and pummeling drums. Of course there are also the Ereb Altor-typical clear vocals so that it doesn't turn out to be "pure" black metal but it's very close to that.

As you probably can read from my lines, there is some light and some shadow on Hälsingemörker, in which there is more light to find here obviously. Apart from the songs, the production of the album is very saturated and powerful again, no reason to contemplate here. Also the album cover looks very nice again, so I would assume that we have a better than average Ereb Altor album with this. Some extraordinary songs vs. two more or less unspectacular songs make (at least in my subjective point of view) a…

Rating: 8 out of 10