Genre : Thall, Progressive metal
Released : October 15th, 2021
Label : Century Media Records
FFO : Meshuggah, Humanity's Last Breath, Reflections
After eight years of silence, aside from the occasional short teaser that kept fans eager to hear more and longing for a release date, the successor to the critically acclaimed 2011 "Måsstaden" has finally been unleashed upon the world.
"måsstaden under vatten" picks up on the conceptual world its predecessor had built ten years ago and tells an incredibly somber tale loosely inspired by Swedish folk tales in which we follow a serpentine main character who delves deeper and deeper into the nooks and crannies of the labyrinthic fictionnal city of Måsstaden ruled by a cult-like aristocratic society of anthropomorphs as he searches for friendship believed lost and ultimately meets a tragic end.
Eight years is quite a long period of time during which a band can change and evolve, and the musical landscape has also changed quite a bit since the days of Måsstaden.
Djent was perhaps the most exciting thing happening to the underground progressive heavy music scene and 2011 saw the release of defining albums of the genre, such as Animals As Leaders' "Weightless", Tesseract's debut "One", Born of Osiris' "The Discovery" and of course, "Måsstaden" itself.
Nowadays, the dust has began to settle when it comes to the refreshing nature of the sound of djent.
What was once an exciting new progressive sub-genre to pioneer has mainly become more of a modern metalcore cliché than anything else lately unfortunately.
And yet, with "måsstaden under vatten", Vildhjarta have brought their unique and distinctive spin on the sub-genre back into current-day fashion and have somehow managed to make it sound even more complex, obtuse, aggressive and melancholic.
Their approach to djent is in fact so unmistakably theirs that what started out as a meme word being thrown around is now being used to coin their specific sound, in turn creating a new sub-(sub?) genre that many describe as being "hyper-djent"...and that many bands try to replicate but as far as I'm concerned, only bands where members of Vildhjarta have directly been involved actually manage to pull it off.
The most noticeable differences coming into this new record for me are :
The discontinuation of the dual vocalist approach, with Vilhelm Bladin now being fully in charge of vocal duties.
Even though the way in which the vocal parts are written and mixed perpetuate that feeling of relentless vocal assault the band had previously established.
I'm curious to see how that will translate in a live setting though.
The other major difference for me is the inclusion of multi-instrumentalist and producer, Buster Odeholm to the band's current line-up.
His style of drumming which kind of reminds me of a more "contained" Baard Kolstad (Leprous) (I'm not a drummer so please don't roast me if this doesn't make any sense), adds even more of an odd angular feel to the band's music with unorthodox accent placements and an unstable-feeling yet perfectly controlled usage of the kit.
And of course, his production style brings Vildhjarta's sound to new heights in my opinion.
Everything sounds so crisp and impactful.
Every single powerful drum hit or pitched down riff hits with satisfying intensity and the high-pitched reverbed layers of guitar are able to cut through all the bassiness and chugs and bring this beautiful melancholy that is at the core of this band's music while the vocals retain that organic, raw-feeling grit and emotion throughout.
As I've said previously, Vildhjarta are known for their distinctive sound and that is mainly due to Daniel Bergström and Calle Thomér's instantly recognisable guitar tones and the way the guitar parts are both arranged and engineered.
On "måsstaden under vatten", the experimentation with guitar sound design has been taken a step further and the riffs and sounds the guitars produce on this album are so incredibly evocative and constitute the main palette that paints the story of this album in my opinion.
Even though I can't understand a word of Swedish, the emotions that pour out of these guitar parts are so vivid that it is easy to attach your own personal interpretation and visual representation of what is happening.
Add to that the fact that the album heavily relies on various main melodic motifs that are repeated and modified in different ways throughout the album's lengthy run-time and it genuinely feels like the guitars are the core story-telling component here.
The way these motifs unexpectedly weave their way in and out of tracks throughout this musical odyssey along with the unpredictable, shape-shifting song structures mirrors both the slithering motion of the snake protagonist and the maze-like nature of the city of Måsstaden.
As the protagonist delves deeper into its confusing structure, so do we as listeners within Vildhjarta's music.
The only downside I can find to this album is its monolithic length that can prove to be a bit too overbearing for newcomers of the band and it can even be a challenge to fans accustomed to the band's music since it does require patience and multiple plays in order to be fully appreciated and digested for everything it has to offer, similarly to Between the Buried and Me's "Colors II" also released this year.
However, if you do give it the time and attention it can require, you are rewarded with an incredibly unique and gripping experience, both in terms of what it has to offer in sheer musical technicality and originality but also on a narrative and emotional level.
I kind of expected it ever since the release of the singles, but "måsstaden under vatten" is undoubtedly one of my top albums to have been released this year and it has resonated so much with me personally.
I usually like to write these reviews while listening to the album I'm talking about, but with this one, I would find myself getting too distracted by my enjoyment of the music instead of focusing on writing.
That's how good it is.
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