What is Hellveto? Hard to tell, maybe it has something to be related to “Hell” or something. Come on, this is pagan Black Metal, it has to be something occult, diabolic or something; just read the title of the album and it is almost 666 or 999. Ho many releases are there before this one? This is actually their 10th full length…I mean, this man is even making more than a couple of albums a year! Man you say? Are we talking about a project or something? No, it is a one man band. So this means a drum machine, some so-so performance at some instruments or what? Well, I don’t know if it is a drum machine, a program or Lon (yep, the one and only member) playing drums… but the final result is quite good to be honest, as the music is not abusing form fast parts or complex rhythms, that would expose the real nature of the drums. And what about the production values? It has a decent production, I mean everything is clean, yet for the Heavy Metaller, the guitars are not loud enough… although not completely buried in the back, I feel like this needs more distortion and power. Oh well. So, what band would you compare it to? Well, any pagan Metal band will give you an idea… you know, mid-tempo music, eerie melodies, a lot, and I mean a lot of sounds done by keyboards… it kind of feels “epic” at times, not exactly heavy nor aggressive… maybe some Viking era BATHORY with a more pagan flavor… and with more screamy vocals too. How does this stand with other bands of the genre? Hard to tell. It is quite enjoyable, but to be honest I am not going to put this on my CD player for more than once in a year or so… But the man got 10 CDs out! It has to be something! Yeah, right I won’t deny that. Maybe he’s too damn prolific, and maybe there are some crazy pagan folk Metal fans out there that can only listen to meal this way…I don’t know. As a whole, as a unit, as a musical band… well, it is still not that interesting. Have you heard the previous works of this band to assume that attitude? Yep, songs from most of their releases can be put together and still you won’t make a difference…I mean they have a style of their own, and probably even some identity, yet it is not strong enough to catch my attention. I am no pagan you know, so maybe that’s the problem. What would you change from this release? I’ll make it more Metal, you know, more heavy distorted guitars and more powerful drums… it sounds a bit too “quiet” if you know what I mean… Final thoughts? Yes, this comes in a really nice digipak edition, complete with a booklet, but not all the lyrics are there, so that takes away something…I mean if it sounds like ancient pagan tales, put the damn tale in there. Ok, I suppose for the quantity of releases that they are doing something right, but to these ears, it is not as metallic as I would like it to be. www.pulverised.net