Hellevaerder – In De Nevel Van Afgunst

‘Je bent niks waard!’, screams vocalist Miranda Visser in the very first second of this album. It translates to ‘You are worthless’ and sets the mood for the coming 40 minutes of Hellevaerder’s debut-album. Black Metal the misanthropic and nihilistic way. Cold, raw and merciless.

After a few demos and a split 7” EP with Parfide (2021, Zwaertgevegt) the band now comes up with a full-length album. ‘In De Nevel Van Afgunst’ sounds like a logical step after the previous recordings, though no major shifts were made. The music is still as predominantly fast-paced, the production cold but clean and Miranda’s vocals are still as possessed as ever. Because of the female vocals and their Dutch origin a comparison with Doodswens might be obvious, but that would be a little too easy – they both are different entities and have different musical backgrounds. Yet a comparison with Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult is not too far off as the music, all together, has a very Nordic-vibe, not too far away from bands like Darkthrone, Gorgoroth, Taake or Urgehal.

The band is spitting it all out hatefully and with enough bile to make ‘In De Nevel Van Afgunst’ a convincing debut-album. Yet, though it might be a little disingenuous, they are not yet of the same quality as the references mentioned above. But, Hellevaerder is a very welcome addition to the ever-expanding Dutch underground Black Metal scene, they do prove that Dutch soil is very fertile and spawns many a great band!