I found the original ‘Gratr’ on eBay last year and was positively grinning with glee at my discovery...until I noticed the price, a colossal £65. I toyed with the idea of spending so much on a demo (albeit one of the best demos you’ll ever hear), but in the end couldn’t face it, and it finished on something like £80, much to my horror.
I learnt to accept that my Helrunar collection would probably be eternally incomplete and kind of forgot about it. Well not exactly...somewhere in the back of my mind I hoped I’d find it for an unrealistically ‘recession-busting’ bargain at some German festival.
Now then, skipping to the present day, the wonderful label that is Lupus Lounge have re-issued the thing, and it looks like my collection will in fact be eternally complete.
Some think this is Helrunar’s finest moment, but then some can’t ever get past the brilliance of debut releases, although this is a demo and not an album. I suppose it’s kvlter than ever to prefer demos to full albums, but now a rant appears to be surfacing, so I’ll just skip to the music...
Very often a demo will be completely different from a band’s later releases, but as Helrunar have only had two full-lengths thus far (2005’s ‘Frostnacht’ and 2007’s ‘Baldr ok Iss’), they haven’t had a world of time to develop their style into something unrecognisable. Now in terms of sound, ‘Gratr’ is more similar to ‘Frostnacht’, being a little more melodic and not featuring such black, grating riffs as on their latest effort.
It seems a little daft to describe something on a demo as idiosyncratic, but nevertheless, opener/intro ‘Der Fährtensucher’ is for Helrunar. It’s acoustically played with softly spoken lyrics and sets the atmosphere very nicely indeed, leading perfectly into ‘Raune mit der Tiefe’. Scald Draugir is undoubtedly one of my favourite Black Metal vocalists these days, although on ‘Gratr’ his voice isn’t as high in the production or as pronounced. Grim and bloody evil are two ways of describing his performance on both albums and no doubt the use of his mother tongue brings out the full essence of his marvellous snarl. Anyway, ‘Raune mit der Tiefe’ begins dramatically, with slow, wild chords crying out, until Alsvatyr’s battery begins hammering its way through the track. It certainly isn’t all blasting though, as one encounters their slower, vikingesque ‘oooohhhh’ing fairly early on, brining some of Enslaved’s earlier albums to mind.
‘Ich bin die Leere’ shows their more frostbitten and ragged side, though without losing the catchy Metal riffs they’re also so good at producing. The rhythms are fast, riffs memorable and the vocals tie in extremely well, emphasising the compositions considerably. The song ends with a riff that screams of 1349’s ‘Celestial Deconstruction’, which I suppose means it ends with a great slab of dark drama, though without the incessant blasting. Helrunar tend to be a bit more subtle with their black atmospherics, opting instead for slow, thoughtful, often cold melancholic darkness.
‘Gratr’ the title track is one of the more sorrowful and melodic tracks, the riffs of which are likely to circulate around minds for hours on end, without becoming dull in the slightest. Frankly it’s no wonder this sold out so quickly when the compositions are of such high quality...and on a bloody demo! More straightforward Metal riffs, like those found on ‘Glamr’ (from ‘Baldr ok Iss’) surface in due course, providing a welcome alternative to the black gloom.
It’s probably unnecessary to spell out the fact that if you like Helrunar, this is an extremely worthy purchase, and gives a good introduction to where ‘Frostnacht’ came from. It’s also a great introduction if you’re new to the band, though I don’t think it’s as strong as either of their albums. I reckon something would be wrong if it was though.
http://www.helrunar.com
http://www.myspace.com/helrunarhorde
http://www.lupuslounge.com
http://www.myspace.com/eerieemotionalmusic
