Link to Hélvete youtube page:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Laprevraven?feature=mhee
I've been pretty much asked to review this album by the author himself to help him with his popularity within the underground, firstly let me introduce myself, I am Wong, I've been reviewing music for many local artists in Canada, such as Boulderfist, Fringe, and Sacred Falls. Hélvete in a nutshell is if you take dark ambient, Depressive black metal, and experimental rock, and shove it all in a blender, what you will get is (quote from artist) "Erotic Black Psychedelic" or E.B.P. for short. The artist is known and only known as Stefan, a mysterious, ideological character from Canada, which expresses his views, and feelings in this first "Dark Ambient Album", Gemini.
Let us start with the synopses of the album and its concept. Initially, the artwork is quite unique, it fits well with the idea and theme of the album, which is "Perfection vs Imperfection", the cover artwork is done by Ceidre K. (info on the Hélvete website). As his first album, the artwork does prove to be solid, and fit with his genre, the use of contrast of the final product of the cover fits much better then its original. Next, the Gemini album bares 11 tracks, as numbered:
1-Chapel of Venus
2-Mirrors
3-Mother Rain
4-Polaris 6
5-The Abyss
6- Grishjärta
7-For You
8-Gemini
9-Wisdom's Labyrinth
10-What We Never Were After All
11-Begotten
It opens up with an array of different sounds, accelerating all at once, which is a convincing start for a dark ambient album. The "Mirrors" track, which follows, seemed a bit out of place, but the idea of the song is somewhat different, it isn't really a song, more then a sequence of stories all acted out, the track was quite disturbing, and any Dark Ambient freaks out there would enjoy this one, it is twisted and sexual in its own way, but most of all I found it awkward listening to this track, but do not fear, the rest of the album has much more in store. It combines many acoustic themes, "Mother Rain", and "For You" are one of which, all instrumental, piano and guitar, but throughout most of those I found myself falling into a daze or a trance. The rest of the album seems to be targeted to a wider audience, for most of the techno and ambiance is not as dark but I do recommend those listen to "The Abyss" it will give you one big headache, it seems rather influenced by Stalaggh. The key song would be Gemini, the only black metal song in the whole thing, it follows rather a progressive Depressive Black Metal style of distortion and shrieking vocals accompanied by the traditional growl, but the clean parts along with the soloing are a bit too underrated, and to many a bit unprofessional, but, Stefan admits himself that everything in Hélvete is meant to be the way it is, seeing that it deals with Perfection vs Imperfection, if it was too perfect then the music would lose all meaning.
The downside of this album would be that it is nonprofessional to many ears, and is not meant for everyone, or so not everyone can understand its meanings and metaphors. It is strangely inspired by acts of ex Silencer front man "Nattramn" I yet have to question Stefan on that behalf. Another downside is that the album is 55 minutes long, give or take, most sounds aren't as co-ordinated and don't fit as perfectly well as they should, and half the time due to distortion it is hard to understand what is being said or sung. The album ends uniquely though, with a poem. There is much potential in this artist, but he needs to be directed in the right path. Stefan pretty much recorded everything, but the album suffers for it has not yet been published.
It's a great start to one's musical career in the underground, I give it a 7.5/10. Great concept, a lot of deep meaning, but it lacked a sense of direction, and had many moments my ears couldn't handle due to the audio quality, distortion and glitching, but that is my opinion, I hope you all can enjoy this, and I personally wish we'd have more creativity like this in the underground.
Btw my favorite track is Grishjärta (tribute to Holocaust).
If you desire more info, then check out the website
http://helvetegemini.webs.com/index.htm
that'l be all!
