Vildhjarta – Måsstaden

They come from Sweden, they are fresh and bizarre, they are heavy and diverse, they bow down to Meshuggah and have given their music the insanity, claustrophobia and uniquity of the gods from Umea. All these and many more reasons are way enough to get to know Vildhjarta from Hudiksvall. There must be something in the Scandinavian north that makes the bands play their souls out, surely the band whose name means wild heart if you pronounce it Vildhjärta with umlauts, have something special and not only because they have taken their name from the whole Dungeons & Dragons series, but because they present something really atmospheric in their music. Their debut album ”Måsstaden” is a concept-album that tells the tale of a hidden and isolated town, narrated in a classic fable manner.

Their first release ”Omnislash back in 2009 prepared the ground for what would follow, being only a small taste of the skills of these charismatic gentlemen. ”Traces” is the only song featured there that is included both on the EP and the first full length, which makes ”Måsstaden” a renewed approach in their music. Here the whole result is even more demanding, as they have to put the listeners into the climate of the concept. Though they have the guts to state “We don’t make a fuss about our own sound. We’re ripping off Meshuggah”, their style gets more complex than their heroes most of the times. The mostly mid-tempo and ultra heavy touch, gives them the advantage of an album that gets its songs connected in pretty much the same way and the disadvantage that they may tire the ones wanting to get close to them.

Double vocal attack, three guitars recorded in random order to make you feel you’re in a cuckoo cuckoo clock and a great rhythm section following in the opposite direction most of the times. This album is very close to ”Nothing” by Meshuggah, with this feeling that you may suffocate though there is plenty air around you, the need of diving deep inside the tracks and if you close your eyes, you become one with each instrument separately and collectively. Even the three interludes ” Ostpeppar”, ”Masstadens Nationalsang” and ”Nojja”, are not willing to let you escape this harsh feeling that everyone gets gray around you, though they are coloured as in the marvellous cover artwork, which couldn’t describe better the whole album. Don’t forget that RPG is art, and the ones dealing with it, dedicate theirselves on it very much.

On the album, you will find many songs to get busy with, for different reason each, but with all of them bringing you the same feeling, grabbing your elbows, crouching yourself and start going back and front. Slowly and steady, the album flows and tracks like ”Dagger” or ”Benblast” win the impressions from the beginning. Close enough to them, are ”Shadow” which opens the album, ”Eternal Golden Monk”, ”Phobon Nika” and ”Deceit”. The closing of ”Måsstaden” with ”The Lone Deranger” sums up the album’s atmosphere and what your ears tried to cope up with, bringing the duration close to 52 minutes in the end. Here is the point where I must have some objections, as Vildhjarta are a very special band than needs a special treatment, in order not to elude you now that they are capable of entering the metal world with a success.

The truth is that the album tires me a lot. I am a big Meshuggah fan and I personally have no problem of listening to this sound being re-produced by others (though it has started getting annoying). This is a band with a great sound but it’s not something that is coming from their ideas, it’s like they have a pattern which is ready and they simply do what they have to do. The songs sound pretty much alike and the absence of speed doesn’t help very much. If you take bands like TesseracT or Periphery, they do what they do more focused and with a better result. This is the reason why I can’t get obsessed with the album so much and I will be a little strict to them with my rating, though they might deserve more. I am waiting for something more of their own in their future and I think that they will prove me wrong with the next record. Until then, I’ll just wait for the new Meshuggah to fill me up.