Hallatar – No Stars Upon the Bridge (2017)

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As one of the most devastating albums of 2017, today we have “No Stars Upon the Bridge” by Hallatar. Formed by Juha Raivio (Swallow the Sun) to pay homage to Aleah Starbridge, this band can be seen as a continuation of Trees of Eternity with a more raw and emotional edge. Joined by Tomi Joutsen (Amorphis), and Gas Lipstick (ex-HIM), with the guest appearance of Heike Langhans (Draconian), this release is full of despair and loss, transmitted in very emotional songs that will rock your senses.

Opening with the punishing riffs of “Mirrors”, the album starts with a very powerful and commanding tone. In this track we get to listen to Tomi’s vocals in a raw and uncomposed way, perfectly transmitting the state of a grief-stricken madman, this is indeed a truly haunting experience. “Raven’s Song” is a very nice and short poem that switches the mood of the release as it mellows a bit with the highly melancholic “Melt”. In this song, the clean vocals are full of emotion and perfectly kick of a moody track that features interesting tempo changes and powerful atmospheric elements.

Led by Heike Langhans, “My Mistake” is a brilliant atmospheric piece filled with haunting lyrics and very mellow percussions. This is one of our favorite tracks in this release as it is full of contrasts that weave back and forth mellow atmospherics with clean female vocals and punishing riffs paired with growls. The albums emotional rollercoaster continues with the eerie poem “Pieces”, the melancholic “Severed Eyes” and the raw emotions of “The Maze”, all three tracks are quite different from each other, but they perfectly transmit the pain and raw emotions behind the song writing.

The album comes to a close with our favorite poem “Spiral Gate”, and the extremely heart-wrenching track “Dreams Burn Down”. This last track features vocals by Aleah and Tomi’s uncanny ‘madman’ screams combined to create a very chilling song that makes our skin crawl every time we hear the chorus section. Overall, this is definitely one of those releases that gets under your skin and delivers its message in a very direct way. As a musical creation based on grief and loss “No Stars Upon the Bridge” is a masterpiece that should not be missed by any fan of the genre.

Band: Hallatar Album: No Stars Upon the Bridge

Label: Svart Records

Release: October 13th, 2017

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Genre: Death/Doom Metal

Country: Finland

Rating: 98/100
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