From pernicious forest spirits to ritual senicide, thralldom and beyond Gävle, Sweden-based epic vikingr metal quartet EREB ALTOR walk us through a dark folkloric exploration of their homeland on this ninth full-length album. An hourlong delve into bloodied battle, duplicitous skogsrå and the greater follies of man ‘Hälsingemörker‘ finds the band taking one step deeper into ‘epic’ tonality and heavier melodicism as they escalate the increasingly sky-shot charisma of their storytelling. Though they’d found an all-pro, high standard several albums prior here they’ve focused on wielding personage, wit and a strong sense of rhythmic interest into an album which balances both warrior and bardic spirits into one finely balanced axe edge

~Ten albums and twenty-two years ago Ereb Altor formed circa 2003 as an extension of the Bathory inspired ideas found in pre-Isole group Forlorn, taking some of that epic doom metal ideal into their first several recordings. Though I’d outlined some personal favorites (‘By Honour‘ and ‘Nattramn‘) per their overall discography in review of the two previous albums, today I’d emphasize the many successes of (‘Vargtimman‘, 2022) as the major dramatic shift that’d made the overall voicing and bombast of this album possible. Some of this’d occurred per the brilliant ‘Järtecken‘ (2019) which’d benefited from their focus on the use of clean vocals and songs where said vocals take the lead. That is to vaguely suggest to folks in the know that doom, folk, power and black metal still all factor into their own vikingr metal sound today, a great blend of melody and aggression in every case. They still aren’t fully aiming for the complex vocal arrangements of say, Borknagar (see: “Ättestupan”) though their overall anthemic pagan black metal quality has been amplified as part of their greater Quorthonian insight, it all takes a step forward with an axe in hand this time around. Is it a new era of the band or a notable stride made in terms of higher fidelity recordings and some more accessible songcraft? I would say they’ve generally been pushing for a higher standard rather than leaning into a “pop metal” directive, for some years now and the results are both consistent and steadily escalating.

They’ve gotten right to the heavy metal of it all out the gates with blood-spitting opener “Valkyrian Fate” striding along the line that viking metal often draws between power metal panache and populist black metal temperament, allowing for both declarative and motorized presentation as key dynamic. Just as “I Have the Sky” was this big, hall-rousing declaration to kick off the previous album so do Ereb Altor put a best boot forward in trampling their path clear for ‘Hälsingemörker‘; Whether you’ve some latent love for Amon Amarth or even just Thyrfing of olde there is some great spirited trod through this opener which endears as much as it threatens anything that stands in its way. In fact I believe fans of ‘Vansinnesvisor‘ will appreciate some of the cracked grooves and driving step of the title track (“Hälsingemörker”) just as well, not that we’re heading back in time to the early 2000’s viking metal species with this record but that their treatment of rhythms is kinetic, charged with ideas which confront and contort the usual pathways to inspirational Swedish metal. These pieces are the main momentum that’d pulled me back into the band’s realm and overall the experience stuck.

The only obstacle standing between me and Ereb Altor this time around is this sense that ‘Hälsingemörker‘ is iteration, the identity of the band having rooted into its own distinction beyond the mid-2010’s at least, and that the experience created a bit of familiar malaise in terms of being too directly in the key of ‘Vargtimman‘. What pulled me out of this thought quickly was some appreciation for the charisma of their work, the stories being told, and the number of “new” feeling pieces that crop up along the way. I’d particularly appreciated the wide-open thundering spaces of “The Waves, The Sky And The Pyre” on the way through as we move to the middle-peaking portion of the album and reach a much needed breather from the battlements up front. Though I appreciated the way that the overall listening experience would unfold over time there’ll be no escaping the album being somewhat overstated, “epic” not in the sense that their work leans longform so much as it tarries on with a few too many similar pieces along the way.

The major goal of this hourlong record is foremost conveying the dark folklore of the central Swedish region of Hälsingland and in this sense a grasp of the language and references might bring the listener close as possible to its purpose. Around ~six of the total ten pieces here are sung in Svensk and a number of these, including two late-album singles “Midvinter” and “Skogrået” are built upon melodies inspired by Swedish folk music. The roll and rhythm of the language characterizes each song to a pleasant degree with the former having the thickest accent from lead vocalist Mats, who really shines on this album in terms of songcraft and vocal presence; “Midvinter” also brings in some much needed shift in tone and movement as the middle portion of the album, which also features the longest pieces on the album, remains steadied in its stride for one too many songs in a row for my own taste. The final step into slower paced, more ethereally set pieces for the last three songs on ‘Hälsingemörker‘ helps create a distinct endpoint after the durance of their soldiering begins to wear.

With the final addition of a new version of “The Lake of Blood” tacked onto the end ‘Hälsingemörker‘ is (again) slightly overstated at roughly ~64 minutes in length but no worse for wear, in the context of vikingr/folk and pagan metal this is a tempered hand applied. I’ll assume the album artwork, once again via Tomarúm av Christine Linde, depicts a huldra/skogsrå (sjörå?) or some manner of lake creature suggesting the theme of the album aims for fearsome spirits or those with uncertain intent to some degree. Either way the blend of natural photography, digital manipulation and illustration makes for a unique look which suits the dark oak-and-burl of Ereb Altor‘s presence. Ultimately this album serves as an appreciably fine follow-up to ‘Vargtimman‘ which successfully expands the leading voice of the band without losing the not-so straight forward touch of the songwriters’ hands. A moderately high recommendation.

https://erebaltorhhr.bandcamp.com/album/h-lsingem-rker

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