Where do you even begin with a band as unique, influential yet as puzzling as Vildhjarta.
Starting off their career with an album as ahead of its time and as influential as 2011’s måsstaden followed by 2013’s Thousands of Evils EP, the band went into slumber for almost a decade, only showing brief signs of life through short teasers with no further detail, until 2019 with the release of single ‘den helige anden’, which opened the doors to the more “contemporary” sound of the band, notably with the inclusion of modern metal producer extraordinaire Buster Odeholm in their line-up as both their drummer and producer.
This eventually led to the 2021 release of the monolithic, conceptual successor of their debut, måsstaden under vatten, which presented an even heavier, somber and more experimental approach to the band’s technical, angular sound, counterbalanced by the beautiful melancholy of the ever-present clean guitar soundscaping acting as a structural backbone.
Needless to say, it was unexpected to hear again from the secretive Swedes so soon after they had released such a colossal body of work. And yet, a short riff teaser released during the summer of 2022 became the start of a trail of singles, ‘+ den spanska känslan +’, ‘+ ylva +’ and ‘+ kristallfågel +’, released between summer and winter of 2023.
What seemed like a trio of standalone singles eventually turned out to be part of something bigger when + där skogen sjunger under evighetens granar + was announced alongside the release of another single,’ + sargasso +’ shortly followed by ‘+ ? regnet, the ? +’.
At this point, half of the album had already been released, parts of which had been out for roughly two years so the question is : Is Vildhjarta still able to surprise and satisfy their devoted listeners with the other half ?
And the answer is a resounding “Yes”, absolutely.
In fact, as soon as + där skogen sjunger under evighetens granar + opens with the instrumental ‘+ byta ut alla stjärnor på himlen mot plustecken +’, echoing the instrumental ‘lavender haze’ which opens 2021’s måsstaden under vatten, Vildhjarta lull listeners into a false sense of familiarity, gently opening with their eerie, pensive ambiance which morphs into a riff motif from lead single (now album closer) ‘+ den spanska känslan +’, before throwing a complete curveball with a playful riff that bubbles and undulates between odd serenity and looming malevolence .
“Vildhjarta are to metal what abstract art is to visual design”
That playfulness, juggling with apposed sounds evoking contradicting emotions is one of the essential aspects that can be found throughout this new album. The intermingling of meditative peace, whimsical mischief, deep sorrow, and rabid anger all mixing together like the many vivid colours of Chris Williams’s stunning album artwork.
‘+ två vackra svanar +’ is a perfect condensed example of this constant juxtaposition and shifting between different moods and sound textures. Over the course of five minutes, the track perpetually evolves, from crushing stuttering riffs where guitarist Calle Thomer borders on microtonality with his unique approach to the fretboard, into unexpected ambient synth sound design paving the way for even more ridiculously low pitch-shifted drops and what is perhaps the most creative use of a harmonic, to stunning effect.
The track then proceeds in throwing the musical equivalent of having a little bop by yourself while simultaneously crying your eyes out with a fun sliding riff before that also eventually morphs into the kind of melody you could find in the emotional climax of a Loathe song.
Vildhjarta could’ve very well ended the track then and there after that emotionally charged build-up and release but that would be far too predictable.
Instead, things take another complete left turn as an ominous clean riff reminiscent of 2013’s ‘Längstmedån’ ‘s intro signals one last jittery explosion of dissonance.
Analysing the contents of each track step-by-step would not only be extremely boring to read, it would also be genuinely difficult to encapsulate given how much is going on at all times over the hour-long course of the album, but more importantly, it would defeat the purpose of being surprised, shocked, perhaps even flustered by its incessant twists and turns.
Although the previously released singles offer moments of comforting familiarity that allow the record as a whole to be more digestible upon first listen, it’s also quite satisfying to see how well they fit within the context of the album’s flow.
However, unlike its 2021 predecessor which was structured like one very long uninterrupted piece of music that told a story from start to finish; + där skogen sjunger under evighetens granar + feels more like an exercise in experimentation first and foremost instead of weaving a long intermingling piece of music that constantly references itself through callbacks and recurring motifs.
And this can be as much of a positive to some as it can be a negative to others. Vildhjarta is already definitely not an “accessible” band to begin with, and some will accuse them of merely composing “riff salads” by throwing a bunch of technical outlandish ideas and hoping it all sticks together.
+ där skogen sjunger under evighetens granar + on the surface, is even less structured than anything the band and their reputation for outlandish chaos have previously made, and while that may put off some, there is an argument to be made that it is its more “free-form”, “no rules” approach to songwriting that is the core strength of this new album.
Vildhjarta have put an emphasis on sound design and playing around with diametrically opposed sound textures to create something unique that never repeats itself while still managing to make it sound like an hour’s worth of music that remains interconnected and, while not being as anchored in a conceptual story as previous albums, it still weaves a cohesive narrative.
The shift from Rickard Westman’s artwork, which previously highly contributed in building the imaginary world of måsstaden like some sort of detailed, twisted children’s story book version of a dark folk tale, to Chris Williams’s abstract, vividly colourful, psychedelic spin on the dark folk aesthetic is also representative of the shift in tone and intention on the new album.
When it comes to Vildhjarta, it’s easy to just focus on the riffs, the guitar wizardry and the baffling rhythms that are almost impossible to pin down or even their unserious online presence and the memes naturally generated by their community as a result.
But lyricist and vocalist Vilhelm Bladin paints a picture of deep sorrow on + där skogen sjunger under evighetens granar +, with recurring central themes of regret, disappointment and loss. Be it of unsustainable relationships (‘+ två vackra svanar +’), long-standing friendships that ended in betrayal (‘+ där mossan möter havet +’) or coping with grief following a sudden loss on ‘+ hösten som togs ifrån mig +’, whose somber piano outro duetting with Calle’s mournful playing hits even harder with the added context.
Speaking of Vilhelm, + där skogen sjunger under evighetens granar + easily presents his best recorded performances so far and it is commendable to see how much he has evolved as a vocalist and how much more flexibility he is able to bring to the table.
It’s probably big enough a challenge already to successfully place your voice upon music as erratic and shape-shifting as Vildhjarta‘s, but adding even further depth and range to the band’s possibilities is applaudable.
While + där skogen sjunger under evighetens granar + might be a challenging album to approach at first, even for long time listeners of the band, each listen rewards listeners with new key moments to latch onto as they familiarise themselves with the kaleidoscopic, many-layered world Vildhjarta have built on this release.
From the confusing grooves and tone-shifts of ‘+ byta ut alla stjärnor på himlen mot plustecken +’ to the ceaseless waltzing hammer-on/off riffs of ‘+ sargasso +’ evoking a maddened dancer tap-dancing away until their heart stops, the gorgeous melancholy of ‘+ kristallfågel +’ and of course the epic conclusion of ‘+ den spanska känslan +’ and its flamenco-inspired riff swirling in tandem with the crushing finality of those last bends and low-range drops.
As this journey concludes on a reflection upon how the creation of art is meant to bring purpose and “light” in the artist’s life yet the narrator struggles in obtaining this for themselves, leading to overwhelming bitterness and sorrow, there is an artistic parallel to be made with the music Vildhjarta present on this new body of work.
+ där skogen sjunger under evighetens granar + is easily Vildhjarta‘s most experimental album thus far, even by their standards and the music they present is so far removed from any established conventions that it could be compared to surrealist or abstract art.
The jagged, stuttering, ever-shifting nature of the music on the album creates such a distorted imagery made up of so many shapes and colours combining into so many startling contrasts, all of them seemingly not following any structure that could threaten to restrict creativity or the imagination, challenging listeners to find their own meaning in the relentlessly churning madness of it all.
Regardless of how this approach is received individually, with this new album Vildhjarta have, more than ever, solidified themselves as a unique, distinct creative force in heavy music and are to metal what abstract art is to visual design : puzzling, divisive, chaotic yet beautiful and impressive once one finds their bearings as well as their own interpretations.
thall.