Most bands strongly influenced by Bathory circa ‘Hammerheart’ or ‘Twilight of the Gods’ don’t get around to developing their own style. Some might tweak things a bit – better vocals, either more or fewer extreme metal passages – but very few manage to actually turn the influence into something completely their own the way that Ereb Altor does, to the point where ‘Hälsingemörker’ really doesn’t sound all that much like Bathory anymore. Sure, it’s still a relatively slow, epic, and grandiose style of metal that really only could hail from Scandinavia, but it’s a uniquely powerful take on the style.

Like many bands with similar influences, Ereb Altor employs slow, huge-sounding riffs that have been carefully layered to create an overwhelming sound that appears to emulate the vastness of nature. However, Ereb Altor sets itself apart in two very important areas. First off, their riffs are simply far more memorable than those of many of their peers, often having a melodic quality that is much more prominent than has become the norm. Secondly, Crister ‘Mats’ Olsson’s clean vocals – think Simen Hestnæs, but more controlled and a slightly clearer timbre – is among the best the genre has to offer these days.

While Ereb Altor isn’t really doing anything radically different from what they have in the past on ‘Hälsingemörker’, it’s simply done much better here. The production appears to be ever so slightly beefed-up, which makes the wall of keyboards and guitars sound more massive than ever before. The band also seems to just get better and better at creating vocal harmonies that enhance the atmosphere of each song. In addition, where the songs with Swedish lyrics just seemed to work better with the overall feel on the last few albums, the English-language songs are just as impressive on ‘Hälsingemörker’.

An album like ‘Hälsingemörker’ is best experienced front-to-back. Having said that, there are some stand-out tracks. Opening with ‘Valkyrian Fate’ was a wise choice for drawing in newcomers, as it represents the overall style of the album well, but also is the most traditional heavy metal track here. ‘Vi Är Mörkret’ might just have the most grandiose sound on the album, while ‘Träldom’ has the most pronounced black metal influences. ‘Ättestupan’ feels subtly progressive, certainly more so than anything the band has done before, and I love how ‘The Waves, the Sky and the Pyre’ just keeps building in intensity. The climactic ‘The Last Step’ is the perfect closer.

Since I personally got familiar with Ereb Altor’s music through the great epic doom metal band Isole, which has nearly the same line-up, I inadvertently always ended up comparing the two bands. ‘Hälsingemörker’ might just be the first Ereb Altor album that impresses me more than Isole – although the fantastic ‘Nattramn’ (2015) certainly came really close. In a metal scene full of bands that are trying to one-up each other in terms of speed, technicality or bombast, it’s amazing to have a band like Ereb Altor that manages to perfect the sound they already had the way they do on ‘Hälsingemörker’. Highly recommended.

Recommended tracks: ‘Ättestupan’, ‘Vi Är Mörkret’, ‘The Last Step’