HALLIG
13 Keys To Lunacy
(Folter Records)
49:01min

The first think that I perceived listening to this album was a flashback to 1997 when the second wave of Black Metal was evolving from their grim origins towards a more symphonic edge in many cases, which was due to a heavy use of keyboards and an obvious better performance as musicians. This new German band sounds and reminds me of bands like early GEHENNA, DIMMU BORGIR and ARCTURUS. For once I was not that much into a very up-front keyboard sound, as Metal has always meant to be a crushing guitar, but then again some few bands were able to come up with some very interesting ideas and execution. And that is what HALLIG is doing, with many “bombastic” moments in their songs, and I also appreciate the fact they do dare to take a quite melodic approach, but always having the intensity up-front. A thicker guitar sound will probably only benefit them making them heavier, as they already got the atmosphere with their compositions alone. I also find the vocals to be the quite average Black Metal shriek, but with the potential to do more damage using more variation and more stomach and less throat. Still, for an atmospheric Black Metal band, or rather I would say occult Metal band, they truly revive that spirit of old in this new era with a pride that seems long lost and forgotten. www.facebook.com/hallighorde, www.folter666.de

Julián “13 Keys” Núñez

Julián "13 Keys" Núñez

Related reviews / interviews:
HALLIG - A Distant Reflection Of The Void (Michael Kujawska)

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