Vildhjarta - Masstaden

Century Media Records is one of the greatest record labels right now because of bands like Vildhjarta. This 7-piece progressive metal act hail from Sweden and were a brutally pleasant surprise the first time I listen through their first studio release, “Masstaden”. I had never heard of Vildhjarta before and was surprised to hear a ridiculously tight and refined progressive metal sound with a healthy dose of djent to boot. Not everybody knows the term “djent” so I’ll define it real quick: djent refers to a specific palm muted guitar distortion sound that was popularized by Meshuggah, so basically djent groups possess an obvious Meshuggah inspiration.
  “Masstaden” is an almost flawless debut from Vildhjarta. It contains wickedly atmospheric guitar melodies which are quickly obliterated by wonderfully heavy and technical metal riffs that always require me to crank up my stereo’s volume as loud as the speakers can take. I included the video for track 4, “Benblast”, but pretty much every track is amazing. Vildhjarta have two vocalists, one with low death growls and the other with low screams, which I think may be a bit overkill since one vocalist would work just as well. Then they’ve got 3 guitarists, which makes sense, especially when they’re playing live. The Vildhjarta instrumentation is really the heart of this album as they brilliantly accompany the odd-time signatured breakdowns, eerie synth, and chaotic guitar riffing with the punishing punch of bass and drums. However, they’ve got some groove metal riffs scattered throughout the album that I could’ve done without, which is why I can’t give them a 5 out of 5. Regardless, I hope this positive review of “Masstaden” helps to expose the brilliant musical minds of Vildhjarta.