Helevorn new album “Aamamata” is one of their best albums after 2014’s “Compassion Forlorn”which was a strong and well defined album in my opinion.
The album has been recorded at Psychosomatic studios by M.A Riutort and mastered by Jens Bogren at Fascination Street Studios, like their previous album, and the cover artwork has been made by Gonzalo Aeneas.
In the large list of contributions, you can find Heike Langhans of the Swedish band Draconian, who sings in the song”The Path to Puya”. This is a welcome nod to closer “Els Dies Tranquils” from the last album that featured Lisa Cuthbert, who coincidentally did some live vocals for Draconian. Reference aside, it’s also a damn melancholic and soulful guest performance that plays well against the band’s heavier side
This new disc is a bit more epic, glooomy,intense and dark than the previous ‘Compassion Forlorn’, who had excellent reviews and took the band to play in several European cities, and it will delight to all the Doom Metal fans over the world.
The opener ‘A Sail To Sanity’ is a really good piece of mournful Doom / Death Metal with sad, slow and thick guitars, good drumming and a good vocal work changing between the well-established grunts and clear melodic vocals. Helevorn approaches the themes of the past that are played either by brutal growls or by the melancholic voice of Josep Brunet.Josper has the ability to caress your deepest wounds without hurting you and as they promised, they don’t discover anything new, but play in the 90’s style of gothic/doom metal.
I feel like there is slightly more clean vocals on “Aamamata” compared to the older material and and surprisingly I did not expect to sound so good.What I found very interesting is the Maltese language in the middle of the album on “Nostrum Mare (Et Deixo Un Pont De Mar Blava)”.On the Mare Nostrum track one can hear languages from all the countries that encompass the Mediteraneean Sea (which was called Mare Nostrum by the ancient Romans).
You can listen the album here:
Tracklist:
1 A Sail To Sanity
2 Goodbye, Hope
3 Blackened Waves
4 Aurora
5 Forgotten Fields
6 Nostrum Mare (Et Deixo Un Pont De Mar Blava)
7 Once Upon A War
8 The Path To Puya
9 La Sibil·La