Band: Hellveto (Poland)
Album Title: Crusade / Autumnal Night
Label: Ritual Execution (Poland)
Released: 2007
Over the past few years, many unreleased or out-of-print Hellveto albums (or demos, in some cases) have been re-released on various labels. This has delighted those of us who have been enchanted by the genius of L.O.N., the lone warrior who makes up this pagan black metal project. It has also made it look as if Hellveto has been cranking out four or five albums per year, which is not true... not exactly, at least. In 2007, L.O.N. released Galeon & Hellveto on his own Ritual Execution label, a CD which combined a new EP called Galeon with the Hellveto demo, the latter having been first recorded in 1995/1996 (and re-mixed a few years later). He also released a brand new album, 966, on Singapore's Pulverised Records. And then, finally, he released Crusade / Autumnal Night, which bundles a new EP, Crusade, with the long-out-of-print 2002 album Autumnal Night. Oh, and he released a new CD by his ambient/orchestral side project, Blakagir. And this is just 2007. 2006 was just as confusing.
For those of you who have not had the pleasure of hearing the music of Hellveto, the easiest way to describe it is by calling it orchestral pagan black metal. It is some of the most epic, beautiful, and densely-woven music I've heard in the genre. I have over a dozen Hellveto releases, and I treasure each one of them. One criticism which is sometimes leveled at this project is that every album sounds the same. While this is somewhat true, each of them are worth delving into.
With that being said, what does Crusade / Autumnal Night bring to the table? Well, let's start with the Crusade EP that makes up the first four tracks of this compilation. The first track is a brief intro, a fairly typical one. Nothing very interesting here. When track 2 began, I noticed that the production sounds a little muffled when compared to 966 or his 2006 masterpiece Zmierzch. The music itself is fairly typical of newer Hellveto, but these certainly aren't just tacked-on outtakes (though the packaging indicates that the songs are taken from the session of Neoheresy, which I'm guessing is the name of his next album). Each of the three actual songs on this EP are excellent, maintaining a high level of quality though not straying far from the established Hellveto sound.
Autumnal Night, the 2002 album which makes up the bulk of the CD, is more primitive, which is to be expected. For those who have heard the demo Medieval Scream, which was re-issued on CD in 2004, Autumnal Night will sound very similar. The production is raw, closer to what one would expect from underground black metal, though you can still hear everything clearly. L.O.N.'s genius and vision is apparent on these songs, and they are very enjoyable, though maybe not as layered and deep as much of his newer material. He was still using a drum machine when this album was recorded, and it sounds a bit weak when compared to the live drums he uses now.
But, really, I can't raise any real complaints about Autumnal Night. I'm happy enough that L.O.N. decided to re-release it, and it's really quite good. If you're a Hellveto fan who doesn't already have Autumnal Night, purchasing this compilation should be an obvious choice. The digipack is nice, and the CD contains almost 70 minutes of music, all of it being very good. If you already own the original release of Autumnal Night, the choice is not nearly as clear. However, if you tracked down Autumnal Night, rather than stumbling upon it, you're probably already a big Hellveto fan, in which case you'll probably want to grab this one anyway.
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