Hellveto - Wiara, nadzieja..., potepienie (2010)

Concluding a trilogy of works that debuted with last year's excellent Od Południa na Północ.., and continued through the similar, slightly less impressive Kry, Poland's one-man epic audio force, L.O.N. has now arrived with Wiara, nadzieja..., potepienie (faith, hope, damnation). Another foray into wild, majestic overtures that operates on much the same principles as its direct predecessors. Thus, you will hear swelling keyboard symphonies, acoustic guitars, metal riffs and a variety of raw, rasping vocals and narrative outcries in conjunction, with his unique sense for composition, all cast in the expansive and echoing, low fidelity production atmosphere he is known for.

It's a joyous but morose saga, each piece the herald of a new, obscure glory, dramatized as if a play upon the stage of history. "Gdy ogien u bram zaplonal" features flights of descending, acoustic guitar passages above grooving, programmed percussion, breaking for brief segues of deep, distant chants and brooding ambient tones. The title track functions on a more direct, charging aesthetic, blasted beats lightly supporting the rising textures of the piano, and the slightly audible guitar riffing, into voluminous magnificence. "Od zachodu na wschod" thrashes along desperately atop steady rhythm, tremolo picking patterns and stilted choirs. "Jam glosem niemych" creates a dire, mourning mood that for at least the intro, stands apart from most of the Hellveto material of the past few years. "Swit zalamania" is perhaps the most cohesive and breathtaking piece on the album, filling out its 7:30 playtime with ardor.

In order to celebrate the conclusion of this saga, L.O.N. has included a bonus disc with three 20+ minute tracks, each of which celebrates the title track of the corresponding release with a massively inflated remix featuring new music. Of these, the "Od poludnia na polnoc" obviously holds my attention the most, as it hails from my favorite of the albums, but all three are a welcome addition that bolsters the overall value of this release. In fact, this second disc is even longer than the first (almost 70 minutes). Combined, you can't really turn this down if you're into this most noble of Hellveto eras, though I do feel the sounds and techniques used here were already mastered on the first effort in the trilogy, and thus there can seem a redundancy (as there was with Kry, but the new material here is slightly stronger). Still, I'm assuming he's wrapped up this phase of his existence, and we should look forward to newer style the next time around.

Verdict: Win [8/10]

http://www.hellveto.com/

Hellveto - Kry (2009)

Thank you ever so much, L.O.N., for I am only recently recovering from your previous album (and career height) Od południa na północ when you have so courteously sprung this upon us all. Granted, Kry is not quite so impressive as its recent sibling, but only because you feel like you've just heard it. If there is a difference with this album, it is that the orchestrations are more firmly entrenched in the driving black metal tones that propel them. I would argue that this has a tighter production value than any of Hellveto's previous work, but few of the songs here sound like more than a simplified reduction of Od południa na północ.

Kry is actually a brief effort, with only six songs at about 31 minutes, and its brevity makes it easily consumable. What I'd recommend is to queue it on your playlist right after its spiritual predecessor, if only to extend the duration you can be immersed in the scintillating symphonics and glorious thunder hymns. "Kry" descends like a crystal tear from the heavens, a monument to sadness and loss, while "Glod" blasts at a furious pace, with L.O.N. contributing some guttural vocals alongside his usual pagan rasp. "Powiedz Mi..." is both martial and beautiful, with sultry guitar lines that saunter across the march of the percussion. "Kraina Mgiel" shines with its collision of acoustics and symphonics before entering another forward black charge, momentum encapsulated in great sadness. "Rzucone na Wiatr" is the real highlight here, with a few rhythms that actually branch out into separate territory, and some good basslines that crawl about its depths. "Smak Zniewolenia" is a suitable effort to close the album, with some ringing guitars and tiny angel voices that glare at you through the mix.

Much of Kry plays out like outtakes from Hellveto's last effort, but this is not necessarily always a bad thing. Still, it somewhat lessens the value of this release. But the final two tracks here are more than enough for a fan of L.O.N. to digest, and there is nothing here that could qualify as bad. Just not as inspiring in full as the last one, and perhaps a little overkill.

Highlights: Rzucone na Wiatr, Smak Zniewolenia

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

http://www.hellveto.com/

Hellveto - Od południa na północ (2009)

L.O.N. has been refining his creation for a great many albums since 2002's full-length debut Autumnal Night. There have been some successes among the crowd, but also a lot of average releases which hinted at the promise of much more. Od południa na północ is the long desired sound of a potential being met and exceeded, a levy breaking, and a unique force in East European metal finally coming to bear. There is not much out there which quite compares to Hellveto's fusion of fragmented symphonics and progressive pagan/folk black metal. L.O.N. takes the do-it-yourself, minimal, glorious pomp of Summoning and injects it with a beautiful complexity.

Title track "Od południa na północ..." ("From North to South") creates an urgency, a powerful meditation through walls of sound. Orchestral synthesizers clash into both harsh and clean vocals, birthing a bastard child of martial ambient and epic black metal. "The Day of Sorrow" centers around a blasting rhythm with swelling synthesizers and background acoustics. "Znak do bitwy" again conjures a largely martial vibe, graceful atmosphere with a pagan/folk sheen to the guitar melody. "World of Neoheresy" was one of my favorite tracks on the album, pianos, synths and vocal choirs build a longing climax before another windswept black metal rhythm is interspersed with proggish breakdowns. "Moc odrodzenia" fuses warlike percussion into a sweeping folk metal pattern. "Łuna" is blissfully sad, and the epic closer "Gałąź i sznur" it a slow but forceful culmination of all the elements from the album into a melodious climax.

Though still rough around the edges enough to appeal to fans of his earlier albums, Od południa na północ sounds quite level, the disparate elements of the electric and acoustic guitars, heavy use of orchestral synths, bass, drum programming and vocals all copulate with little dissonance. L.O.N. is truly developing an ear for true orchestration, a myriad of smaller individual pieces that sweep into a captivating, emotional whole. It may have taken 12 albums (and to be fair, the older albums did have some great songs), but L.O.N. has arrived at his first magnum opus. This is a revolutionary piece worth the time of any tasteful fan of black/folk, martial industrial, or pagan metal. Very easily recommended.

Verdict: Epic Win [9.5/10]

http://www.hellveto.com/

Hellveto - Neoheresy (2008)

The prolific L.O.N. of Poland has delivered his 11th full length album in just six years, and arguably one of his most successful at merging symphonic synthesizer elements with sweeping, slow to mid-paced pagan folk metal.

You'll notice an elevation in production values here, even over his more recent records like Stos and 996. The six tracks manage to sojourn through both sorrow-filled landscapes and glorious uproars. Instrumentation is well woven; the heavy use of atmospheric synthesizer never drowns out the guitars, bass, or vocals which all sit central to the mix. This is an album that would possibly appeal to fans of symphonic metal ranging from the bombast of a Therion to the more raw appeal of Summoning.

Despite the effort, it's still not a great album. Several of the compositions make it simple to lose oneself in their herculean glory, but even these are inconsistent. The rather steady pacing throughout can make the album less appealing, though it isn't without a few fast bits, for example "Sredniowieczna Egzekucja" with it's charge riffs but rather dull drum blasting, infused with bells and swelling synthesized strings. I'll reiterate that this is likely his best work to date, and with this level of progression I can only imagine how far he will take this over the course of the next 11 albums...

Verdict: Indifference [6/10]

http://www.hellveto.com/