Helevorn - Forthcoming Displeasures (CD) Digipak

Review
Mtuk Metal Zine

Gothic doom. As a genre, I honestly can’t get enough of it and could quite happily listen to it all day, but there does come a time when you must admit to yourself that a lot of it really does sound alike. I mean, you have your Anathema’s and Swallow The Sun’s up there at the top, then beneath it there are a heap of imitators that I’ll certainly enjoy listening to, perhaps make an effort to see live if the chance should arise, but probably won’t spend an awful lot of time off that dusty old shelf. It’s a lot easier to tell when a gothic doom album is especially bad; done right it should have atmosphere and emotion above all else and when that’s missing you might as well not bother. Forthcoming Displeasures certainly has these elements in spades; it’s the sort of album you can instantly put on the stereo and it feels as comforting as a nice pair of fluffy, slightly worn-in slippers which is, in a way, rather a good thing. Sometimes you just want what is familiar and comfortable…On the other hand it can be predicted note-for-note by anyone with even a casual liking for the sub-genre, and if I had to tell you why to buy this album as opposed to any of the other ten or so gothic-doom albums I’ve heard this year I’m not sure that I could.

That’s not to say it’s not worth your attention; it’s actually a highly listenable album. ‘Descent’ has a grand, epic flow spanning over seven minutes with richly interwoven layers of soothing guitar melodies and soaring keyboards. There is very much that glimmer of hope shining through a la Swallow The Sun, which I like. Things get a bit more up-tempo with ‘Two Voices Surrounding’ which plods along with a Gothic sounding drum beat and the dejected clean vocal lines on this one especially have me drawing a comparison to Nick Holmes. There is a steady mix of clean vocals and deathly growls; on ‘Yellow’ (not a Coldplay cover, in case you’re wondering) the vocals on the chorus are really fragile and add an air of Gothic romance to proceedings.

There’s a certain air of majesty on ‘To Bleed Not To Suffer’ which has a nice flow to it and again the guitars are especially soothing in their tone. The violin is a nice touch as well, adding a mournful layer over the main rhythm section. ‘Hopeless Truth’ is an interesting one with a seemingly unconventional time signature which eventually finds its way swinging into motion, before crashing to a catastrophic halt and struggling back to where it began. There’s even an Egyptian lick that discreetly maunders into the mix. To return to the beginning, Forthcoming Pleasures doesn’t really offer anything new to the table, but it’s a nice, slick sounding slice of melancholy that fans of Gothic doom are bound to enjoy.

Author: Luci Herbert

Review
Hall Of Metal
8.8/10

Emulando a David Meca (pero con flotador), nos hemos cruzado a nado la distancia que separa la península de Baleares para traeros lo nuevo de HELEVORN, una veterana formación de Palma de Mallorca formada en 1999.
La banda editó su primera demo en 2001 ("Prelude") y gracias a la buena acogida, se pusieron las pilas para refinar y mejorar su repertorio con vistas a la edición de su ansiado debut. Aquel disco, autoeditado, saldría finalmente en 2005 bajo el título "Fragments" y la reacción de prensa y aficionado fue lo suficientemente buena como para "obligar" a la banda a cruzar el charco y venir a presentar la obra por distintas ciudades de la península.
Tras aparecer en un tributo a KATATONIA ("November Songs", editado por Northern Silence Records en 2006), la formación recibe una invitación para girar junto a los siempre excitantes SWALLOW THE SUN por España, Portugal y finalizar el tour tocando en el prestigioso festival holandés Dutch Doom Days VI. A finales del 2008, la banda aparece en el inmenso recopilatorio "Spain Kills" (10 discos editados por Xtreem Music, con un cd para cada estilo), justo en el álbum dedicado al doom.
Finalmente llegamos al 2009 y la banda se mete en unos estudios de su ciudad para dar forma a este "Forthcoming Displeasures", con producción de Jens Bogren y Johan Ornborg (KATATONIA, OPETH, DRACONIAN, PARADISE LOST...ahí es nada!!), y cuyo resultado ha engatusado al sello ruso BadMoodMan/Solitude Productions que lo lanzó a nivel mundial el pasado día 15 de Febrero de este 2010.

Para enfrentarse a este "Forthcoming Displeasures" hay que saber apreciar el doom/death, en su vertiente más romántica y melódica, y el dark metal. Si en esos terrenos te sueles mover, aquí vas a encontrar un gran producto nacional con calidad internacional, de esos que no tienen que envidiar nada, de nadie. Hallarás unos temas plagados de melodías tristes y ralentizadas, guitarras solistas con lágrimas en los ojos y rítmicas pastosas, batería parsimoniosa, pianos ensoñadores y teclados ambientales, y todo ello coronado con una dualidad vocal normal-tristona/gutural-desgarrada de una grandísima calidad.

Comenzaremos el viaje hacia las profundidades con "From Our Glorious Days", tema en el que se dan la mano los recitados, sobre un fondo sereno, que suele usar Aaron (MY DYING BRIDE) con voz triste junto a riffs tremendamente melodiosos y pesados ya con voz gutural, en plan SATURNUS por ejemplo.
"Descent" es más lenta y potente pero sin prohibirnos de disfrutar de pasajes totalmente ambientales, de coros melodiosos y tristeza, mucha tristeza. Un tema para disfrutar en silencio.
"Two Voices Surrounding" arranca a lo metal gótico, con las rítmicas más persistentes acompañadas de un piano, para pasar a estrofas solo con sección rítmica y estribillos a lo techno/gótico ochentero. Los que gustéis de gente como BESEECH o TO/DIE/FOR pero en plan más doom, fliparéis con este excelente tema.

Nos movemos hacia terrenos casi funeral doom con "To Bleed Not To Suffer", con esos teclados celestiales dando ambiente a los lentos riffs. Según vayamos transcurriendo en su escucha, empezaremos a recibir pasajes guitarreros a lo KATATONIA (de enorme calidad), zonas melancólicas con gran protagonismo del cello (a los inicios de CELESTIAL SEASON), repetitivas estructuras melódicas en plan hipnótico..., desde luego hay que agradecer a la banda esta gran variedad de ideas y ambientes que nos ofrece.
Algo más animada y marchosa es "Revelations", con guitarras persistentes y teclados sonando en todo momento, dando solemnidad a un tema que invita a mover los pies durante buena parte de su duración. Antes comentaba la calidad vocal y pido atención para esas frases pre-zona central con dueto vocal y excelente acompañamiento del piano.

Lentísima comienza "Hopeless Truth" y Josep aprovecha esta sonoridad para regalarnos otro pasaje con voz triste, a lo viejo doom inglés. Guitarras muy espaciadas, piano dibujando unas leves notas melancólicas y batería ceremonial, aunque según transcurre, recibiremos algún pasaje más movido, alguno mucho más lento aún y final en plan épico.
A "Yellow" hay que tratarla como un desesperado lamento musical. Voz gutural mezclada con pasajes con voz normal etérea y, de fondo, unos riffs pesados, arrastrados y lentos, con arpeggios de guitarra a lo MDB de su mejor época. Tremendos estos mallorquines.
Finalizamos lo que ha sido un brillantísimo disco con "On Shores (Of A Dying Sea)". Teclados imitando voces celestiales, guitarras melódicas lentas sobre una rítmicas super pesadas, desarrollando un tema ralentizado y ensoñador, con dualidad vocal intercambiandose las estrofas. Como cierre nos dejan una zona final con unas notas del bajo y un piano tristón que se va desvaneciendo poco a poco...


Impresionante obra la que nos ofrecen nuestros paisanos HELEVORN, mezcla de doom/death británico con pasajes ambientales y zonas en plan funeral doom, y todo ello con la calidad por bandera. Un disco que invita a escucharlo sin interferencias, disfrutando del enorme sonido que estos chicos han conseguido.
Compra obligada para amantes de estas sonoridades!!

Author: spina

Review
Brutalism
4/5
14.04.2010

Helevorn is an doom metal band from Spain. Helevorn formed in 1999 and released a demo in 2000 titled "Prelude". Starting out as a typical doom band in the gothic direction, they have become a lot more darker and heavier over the years. I first became aware of the band in 2005 when they released a CD called "Fragments", this was a giant step in a more doomier direction but keeping the melancholic atmosphere they had in the beginning of their career as a band. By 2007, they were making a name for themselves around Spain and even supported Swallow the Sun on their Spanish and Portugal tours. Moving forward to 2009 and they entered the studio to record this album called "Forthcoming Displeasures", the end result is a very dark, atmospheric album. The production was handled by Jens Bogren and Johan Ornborg who have worked with Katatonia, Paradise Lost and Opeth.

"From our Glorious Days" is the opening track and already the dark atmospheric mood is set, it blends some kick ass riffs with strong melodies and although its a little predictable, the album is off to a good start. Like most of these kind of doom outfits, they use clean to growling vocals but piano parts are added to the clean vocal parts in the opening track to great effect. "Descent" is up next and its even more gloomy than the opener, there is spoken word passages and crunching doom riffs that are clean compared to a lot of other bands in the genre but Helevorn are all about dark atmospheric music and they achieve that here. "Two Voices Surrounding" begins with a piano intro before the melancholic riffs come in till there is a drastic change with the death growls in the middle of the track. There is some great, almost catchy melodies within all the darkness however and the track seems to gain strength the longer it goes on, to sum up this is one of the highlights of the disc. "To Bleed not to Suffer" takes the album in a slightly heavier direction even though it has the added violin sections, this just adds to the dark intensity of the track. The musicianship is top-notch throughout and this is one of the songs on "Forthcoming Displeasures" where the combination of gothic, melancholic doom and epic driving metal is perfected. "Revelations" sees a change in pace with a more mid-tempo metal attack and stunning guitar harmonics. "Hopeless Truth" brings everything down again to some slow, melodic doom. Again it features more dark guitar passages and spooky piano work, it builds up in tension and atmosphere to a fitting climax.

"Yellow" continues the album in a similar vein with more crunchy guitar riffing and a mournful atmosphere, there is a lot of bands that this can compared to but I am sick of doing that so lets just say, its a typical European doom approach but at the same time, the way its played is pure perfection. The album's finale is "On Shores (of a Dying Sea)", it starts off with some musical melancholic beauty before it is washed away with eerie doom riffing and a depressing atmosphere. Aggressive death growls blend with clean, mournful vocals that build the track up into a hell of a highly charged slab of emotional doom metal. Its has a kind of depressing beauty about it that is hard to put into words. When its all over, you are left with a feeling you have heard it all before but you are no less impressed with "Forthcoming Displeasures". What makes it so impressive is the eerie atmosphere combined with incredible musicianship and the superb production. The album is not perfect but it comes real close, Helevorn are a underrated band but this is a album that deserves to push them to the next level amongst doom metal fans. The way this band is improving, the next album could be a all out masterpiece but for now, "Forthcoming Displeasures" demands your attention.

Author: Ed

Review
The Pit if the Damned
8/10
03.10.2010


Formatisi nel lontano 1999, a Palma de Mallorca, gli Helevorn se ne escono con il loro secondo album (dopo il loro promo cd “Prelude”, uscito nell'inverno 2000 e il primo immaturo lavoro datato ormai 2005 “Fragments”), che li ha definitivamente consacrati come una delle “migliori band doom metal della Spagna” [a detta di alcune delle più famose riviste musicali]. Dopo un periodo di stop durato 5 anni, il sestetto spagnolo rilascia questa nuova release, per la sempre attenta etichetta russa BadMoodMan Music: sonorità doom/gothic, accompagnate anche da qualche exploit con pianoforte (degne di nota sono le tracce “Two Voices Surrounding” e “Revelations”), marcate atmosfere cupe e lugubri degne dei migliori Katatonia degli esordi (bisogna ammettere che la registrazione di quest'album in Svezia ai Fascination Street Recording Studios, sotto l’egida di Jens Bogren e Johan Ornborg, ha lasciato un'impronta indelebile sul sound: mentre il precedente “Fragments” ha visto la luce in Finlandia, negli Finnvox Studios), un growling ben riuscito, che ricorda molto gli Swallow The Sun, coi quali gli ispanici Helevorn hanno girato la Spagna e il Portogallo nel 2007, caratterizzano questo esaltante lavoro, che di originale avrà ben poco ma che comunque si lascia piacevolmente ascoltare. I riff di chitarra sono sempre ben presenti e andanti di pari passo con l'aggressività vocale di Josep Brunet, come a voler marcare profondamente la malinconia che i tempi passati accrescono, vero tema ricorrente di questo cd. In alcune parti Josep ci delizia anche con la sua voce pulita (“To Bleed Not to Suffer”, “Descent” o “Hopeless Truth” tanto per citarne alcune), sebbene il suo uso risulti abbastanza limitato. Registrato nel 2009, ma uscito agli inizi del 2010, "Forthcoming Displeasures" ha tutte le carte in regola per brillare di luce propria, grazie anche alla voglia di sperimentare sonorità che un poco si distaccano dal loro filone degli inizi: ragazzi, questo disco merita davvero di essere consumato a furia di sentirlo e risentirlo, perché un rapido e superficiale ascolto non gli rende affatto giustizia. Provare per credere!

Author: Samantha Pigozzo

Review
Imperiumi
6\10
31.05.2010

Helevorn on taas näitä bändejä, joita sopii tietyissä piireissä kutsua doomiksi turpasaunan uhalla. Silti kaikki tietävät mistä on kyse, jos espanjalaisbändin kakkoslättyä, Forthcoming Displeasuresia, kutsuu gothic doomiksi. Helevorn on siis niitä bändejä, jotka kiskovat illalla auringon nielusta alas, hukkaavat aamuyöllä paratiisin ja löytävät aamulla morsiamensa kuoleman kielistä.

Forthcoming Displeasuresilla ei vältytä tavanomaiselta örinä/puhdas-vaihtelulta, syntikkajousimatoilta, jylhästi hidastelevilta, murheisilta kitaramelodioilta, eikä viulun valitukselta. Levyn kuuntelusta jää vähän sama tunne kuin katsoisi jotain tuttua, siirappista ja katkeransuloista rakkaustarinaa puolinopeudella joltain 90-luvun puolivälin VHS-kasetilta. Juoni on äärimmäisen tuttu ja näyttelijöiden hidastuksissa ylikorostuvat mikroilmeet ovat millilleen kohdallaan. Tragikoominen pohjavire on siis vahvasti läsnä Forthcoming Displeasuresilla.

Bändin ja levyn eduksi on kuitenkin todettava, että niin soundien kuin sävellyksien osalta Forthcoming Displeasures on laadukasta ja huolella tehtyä kamaa. Etenkin Jens Bogrenin avustuksella sorvatut soundit ovat huimasti keskimääräistä Solitude Productions- tai BadMoodMan Music -julkaisua paremmassa kuosissa. Sävellykset ovat niin odotusarvoisia, että loppua kohti levy väkisin väsähtää. From Our Glorious Days taitaa kuitenkin olla levyn paras biisi - muutenkin kuin siitä syystä, että se sattuu olemaan levyn avausraita. Jonain toisena päivänä Helevornin läpitunkeva oppikirjamaisuus saattaisi ärsyttää pahemminkin, mutta harmaan idlauspäivän taustalla se tuntuu verrattain luontevalta musiikilta.

Author: Antti Korpinen