ALBUM REVIEW: Hallatar - "No Stars Upon The Bridge"

By: Ernesto Aguilar

Album Type: Full length

Date Released: 20/10/2017

Label: Svart Records

"No Stars Upon The Bridge" CD//DD//LP track listing

1. Mirrors

2. Raven's Song 

3. Melt

4. My Mistake (with Heike Langhans)          

5. Pieces

6. Severed Eyes

7. The Maze

8. Spiral Gate

9. Dreams Burn Down (with Aleah Starbridge)

The Review:

Stunning art can at many turns be informed by loss. Perhaps it is the vulnerability or universality of such experiences that brings us in as an audience. Maybe it is because the artist's stories mirror our own. Their memories help us grieve. Sometimes they aid us in coming to grips with our own recollections and histories. Hurt is something each one of us experiences. It is thus no secret that music, a unifier in its own right, can encourage us to heal.

Death has informed a number of musical releases in 2017. Bell Witch is most prominent among those bands that have lost members. For acts like Mount Eerie, core performers have seen the departures of loved ones shape the direction of their music. Finland's Hallatar join these tragic ranks. Swallow the Sun and Trees of Eternity principal Juha Raivio launched Hallatar following the death of partner and Swallow the Sun vocalist Aleah Starbridge from cancer last April. "No Stars Upon the Bridge" is the resultant album, which sees Raivio joined by HIM's Gas Lipstick and Tomi Joutsen of Amorphis in a cathartic and revealing nine songs.

However, do not expect ballads out of "No Stars Upon the Bridge.

The death/doom experiment in Hallatar is instead a tightly wound emotional trek. Raivio has stated in interviews that the albums lyrics were written shortly after Starbridge's death, with a further commitment not to edit or alter the feelings expressed on the days the songs were composed. "Mirrors" opens as a pained flare of energy. The mix of spoken and growled vocals continues on "Melt," as Raivio lays bare his feelings and searching for meaning amidst the anguish. Colored against the real-life backdrop, it is impossible for the music not to have a weight that goes beyond what we usually expect from the music.

Hallatar offers a few particularly important parts of the performance. Heike Langhans of Draconian provides a feature on "My Mistake" that will surprise you. The haunting atmosphere in "The Maze" makes this one of the album's best songs. At once menacing and dejected, Hallatar conveys distress and heartache in a despairing struggle. "Raven's Gate" and "Spiral Gate" offer poetry that connects the music. And finally, "Dreams Burn Down," the climax, weaves Raivio's inconsolable lyrics with the posthumous singing of Starbridge in what is a heavyhearted song lifted up by the soaring tones. In all, "No Stars Upon The Bridge" is a fitting goodbye that is not wholly a goodbye.

"No Stars Upon The Bridge" is available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

Swallow The Sun - "Songs From The North I, II, III" (Album Review)

By: Dan C.

Album Type: Full Length (Triple)

Date Released: 13/11/2015

Label: Century Media Records

There’s a mix of styles throughout this first epic piece as it will blend in some acoustic folk on up to more or less funeral doom arrangements.  The second album is much more refined and clean which leans strongly towards a folk approach.  The third album comes back to more doom laden tracks. This 3^rd piece is even heavier than the first. I think of the band Kongh when Swallow the Sun hit some pivotal doom moments here.  Songs from the North is some serious shit. Now go turn this stellar masterpiece all the way up and break out the whiskey and hash.

“Songs From the North I, II, III CD//DD//LP track listing:

Disc 1

1. With You Came the Whole of the World's Tears

2. 10 Silver Bullets

3. Rooms and Shadows

4. Heartstrings Shattering

5. Silhouettes 6. The Memory of Light

7. Lost & Catatonic

8. From Happiness to Dust

Disc 2

1. The Womb of Winter

2. The Heart of a Cold White Land

3. Away

4. Pray for the Winds to Come

5. Songs from the North

6. 66,50´N,28,40´E

7. Autumn Fire

8. Before the Summer Dies

Disc 3

1. The Gathering of Black Moths

2. 7 Hours Late

3. Empires of Loneliness

4. Abandoned by the Light

5. The Clouds Prepare for Battle

Swallow the Sun is:

Juha Raivio | guitar

Markus Jämsen | guitar

Mikko Kotamäki | vocals

Matti Honkonen | bass

Aleksi Munter | keys

Juuso Raatikainen | drums

The Review:

Finish group, Swallow the Sun, take a big leap of faith with their latest release, “Songs from the North I, II & III,” which takes the word “fucking epic” to a new level. This is a TRIPLE album in case you didn’t follow the number sequence there within the album title. Swallow the Sun blend so many different variations of sound within this entire series of albums that it’s hard to pin down on what style of music to call it. There’s cathedral/organ sounding keys at times mixed with regular piano sounds, guitars that go from distorted to ambient delayed harmonies, vocal ranges that go from dark guttural Neanderthal grunts to clean and polished and finally the drums that are pretty slow and fluid throughout.

The first album leans towards darker elements and with swooping guitars that doom out with lots of echo on the vocals. There’s a mix of styles throughout this first epic piece as it will blend in some acoustic folk on up to more or less funeral doom arrangements.  

The second album is much more refined and clean which leans strongly towards a folk approach. You will not hear any distorted guitars on this 2^nd piece so either broaden your mind or skip on to the third album. There are ambient textures within the flow of keys and acoustic guitars along with harmonies that embellish strange mystical moody stuff that will make you sleepy if you smoke too much herb. It’s pretty ballsy of these guys to break out into such delicate tunes sandwiched in between two heavy doom albums.

The third album comes back to more doom laden tracks. This 3^rd piece is even heavier than the first. I think of the band Kongh when Swallow the Sun hit some pivotal doom moments here. The keys are still strong in this third album but the guitars are more dominant than anything else. Lots of guttural vocals closing out the album with a black metal vocal approach. 

This is an album I see myself drinking to while chaos ensues around the city, with my power cut off, so I’m catering to candles everywhere, I lost my dog, my girlfriend and my heroin and there’s no chance I’ll be able to catch the next episode of Hell’s Kitchen on the telly. So there you go. Songs from the North is some serious shit. Now go turn this stellar masterpiece all the way up and break out the whiskey and hash.  

“Songs from the North I, II, III” is available here

FFO: Novembers Doom, Katatonia, Ghost Brigade, My Dying Bride

Band info: official