Review by Vinny for Heltekvad - Morgenrødens helvedesherre (2022)

Denmark remains one of the positive outliers in the world of black metal for churning out consistently high-quality bands. A lot like Canada, I find that there is almost a guarantee that I will like something that lands in my grubby mitts if it has originated from the land of Lego. Heltekvad are members of Morild, Afsky and Sunken. All three bands hail from the same country and having checked out a few releases from each it is not hard to see why I fell for Morgenrødens helvedesherre instantly. In fact, it was not until I purchased the vinyl that I released the band was a super-group of sorts. There is indeed a lot for me to like across these seven tracks that complete the album in a little over thirty-five-minutes. The vinyl copy comes with an impressive booklet, full of medieval imagery to accompany the lyrics, which are all Danish, and with me not understanding Danish the imagery is more appealing.

The music itself has a very European bm flavour to it. Anyone familiar with the vast atmospheric tunes of Sunken or Morild will find a little of that style by way of comparison here, if anything though, you could more easily liken it to an Afsky record, which feels a bit of a cop out given it is Ole Pedersen Luk’s demented shrieking that undertakes vocal duties here, the exact same voice of Afsky. It is not that Morgenrødens helvedesherre lacks texture because of the lack of extensive atmospheric bm. In fact, I would describe it as a very tactile listening experience overall. Jagged riffing plays across angular melodies, whilst on other occasions the more familiar tremolo takes centre stage. With a surprisingly clear production the guitars feel especially free to breathe alongside those raw vocals. My only criticism would be that the drums seem to have a diminished presence in the mix.

The sense of medieval times I have gauged from my reading of the period is that it was a time of desperation, and that despair was very much prevalent in daily life. The desperation and despair in the music are fitting then for my imagined aesthetic of life in this period of history. Uncertainty over war, invasion, famine, disease and inequality in general all provide a tumultuous backdrop for the trio of Heltekvad to write their black metal musings to. Completed by flares of horns and samples of what sound like lutes on one occasion, this medieval theme is certainly underlined well throughout Morgenrødens helvedesherre. The busier pacing of some tracks reflects a sense of chaos and the constant threat of change looming, whilst there is still some bleak comfort from the use of melody also on the record.