Helfir comes from Italian guitarist Luca Mazzotta. For the past decade has been playing with Progressive Death Metal band Silvered. As a solo project Mazzotta took it upon himself to not only compose everything but also play it on the album. Which makes this an interesting journey into the mind of a guitarist and a coherent album with a strong identity.
The Human Defeat is Luca Mazzota’s debut album. It carries the stench of death metal with an industrial twist, integrating the styles without breaking the mood. The synthetic components sound at home amidst the heavy rhythms regardless of their function. For an idea of what this sounds like try beat matching The Future Sound of London’s ISDN with Anathema’s Eternity III.
Described as Decadent Gothic Metal there’s some kind of prog influence going on. Even if only through the abstract but personal lyrics. For the most part the action is grandiose and imposing. Yet not without sentiments of melancholia. The melo-death elements defy these sad and aloof moments with a strong posture. However the term Gothic succinctly epitomizes the intention of the music in whatever context you can contrive.
Mazzotta’s six-string experience with a prog death metal band surfaces in beautiful and dark passages. Lending themselves to his intuitive arpeggios. While the chords wouldn’t be out of place on a doom album their development from guitar to synth and from arp to lick benefit from the gothic atmosphere. Helfir nails it like Van Helsing to a vampires heart.
Helfir, although technically familiar, is a strange beast. In the words of Ovid “His eyes are deceived, but the strange illusion excites his senses.” However for a more relevant quote ‘don’t judge an album by its vocals.’
8/10
