This album of the week is by this great group called Hellvete. There's also a great black metal band by the same name if you want to check them out here. However, this is a different group/artist of the same name.
Now, I believe that Hellvete is from Belgium because their album was released on the Belgian record label Aguirrer. I can't find any other info out there about this band. The mystery of them adds to the wonderful atmospheric ambience of their album Voor Harmonium. I came upon this just randomly looking for some new ambient tracks on bandcamp.
You can check out the album here.
If anyone knows more about this band, feel free to leave a comment. I'd love to know more about them, and get more of their music.
Bonsoir, Nadette.
ReplyDeleteYes, he’s indeed belgian. Hellvete is the alias used by musician Glen Steenkiste for his solo work. But he’s also active in many bands I’m not familiar with: Annapurna Hellvision, Blodklod, Brahmen Raag, BEG, Chainsaw Gutsfuck, Geitevuyst, Het Interstedelijk Harmoniumverbond… Usually in the psychedelic/”experimental” folk genre, with the occasional touches of dark ambient, industrial, drone, black metal, grindcore...
But there is two other projects I’ve heard before: Silvester Anfang and Sylvester Anfang II, the first one being his usual “noisy” folk, the second veering off more towards krautrock. The split between the two versions of the band being a reference to the famous krautrock projects Amon Düül and Amon Düül II.
The name Sylvester Anfang, apart from being the name of one particular species of owl, I believe, is also, more importantly, a reference to the opening song of a Mayhem EP, Deathcrush (I think you already are familiar with the lore of the famous/infamous “second wave of Norwegian black metal”, so I’m not gonna introduce the various bands and people Steenkiste references through his projects).
What’s interesting about that particular title, Sylvester Anfang, is that it’s not Mayhem’s usual brand of thrash/black metal. Instead, serving as an intro, it’s a song given to Euronymous by famous krautrock musician Conrad Schnitzer (from the bands Tangerine Dream and Kluster/Cluster). In general, the harsh, almost musique concrète, sound of the first Tangerine Dream album, Electronic Meditation, is in large part attributed to Schnitzer. And, with Kluster (with his mates Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius, who I also love), he’s furthermore exploring this noisy proto-industrial aspect of krautrock. And then, here he is, invited to one of the foundational records of the burgeoning black metal genre.
And so, afterwards, Steenkiste seems to place himself at the junction between those two musical traditions, black metal on one hand (for another example, one of his other bands, Chainsaw Gutsfuck, is also a title from the same Mayhem EP), and noise-oriented krautrock on the other. There are other aspects to his music but I think it’s a pretty good summary of his artistic identity in general.
His alias, Hellvete, being another black metal reference: that’s the name (as Helvete with only one l) of the still active record shop in Oslo where the infamous “Black Metal Inner Circle” used to hang out. You know, the usual suspects: Euronymous, Varg, Dead, Fenriz, Necrobutcher, Ihsahn, Samoth, Mortiis, and so on…
And so, to come back to the various bands by Steenkiste, I’m not familiar with most of them but I suspect it’s gonna be interesting to explore. And the two I talked to you about, Silvester Anfang and Sylvester Anfang II, are absolutely worth a few listens. He doesn’t have a unique account for them but, if you do a search in Bandcamp, a few recordings of his are available on various labels:
https://bandcamp.com/search?q=silvester%2Banfang&item_type=a
https://bandcamp.com/search?q=sylvester%2Banfang&item_type=a
https://bandcamp.com/search?q=Steenkiste&item_type=a
https://bandcamp.com/search?q=hellvete&item_type=a
A few of them are on YT:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=sylvester+anfang+full+album
Also, apparently, he used to post them in his blog, too:
https://degek.wordpress.com/
And, well, there’s good chances you already know that very well but, if you’re not familiar with the various bands and artists he references, both the history of Norwegian black metal and the works of Conrad Schnitzer (and krautrock in general) are both endless rabbit holes to explore. His band Cluster/Kluster is awesome, for a start. And the various projects by Hans-Joachim Roedelius, Conrad Schnitzler and Dieter Moebius, too.
Great stuff! That is a wealth of information here. I'm going to really dive into all of this stuff later. Thanks for posting.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome. Always happy to share about music.
ReplyDeleteWhile exploring Glen Steenkiste's productions, i noticed a few collaborations with artists i find interesting. You might want to listen to those as well, if you're not familiar with them.
Burial Hex: esoteric dark ambient, sometimes a bit folky, sometimes a bit industrial.
https://burialhex.bandcamp.com/
Woven Skull: "Minimal Repetitions Made Inside of Haunted Woods & Burning Bogs", as they describe themselves. Again, a bit dark ambient, a bit drone-y, a bit folk-y.
https://wovenskull.bandcamp.com/
David Colohan (in solo or in his band, Raising Holy Sparks): Similar style as Woven Skull (and he did collaborate with them). Used to hang out a lot in the Folk Horror Revival community. Nice guy.
https://davidcolohan.bandcamp.com/
He also used to do these various folk/rock/prog/electronics mixtapes, too, that are quite cool. Sometimes in collaboration with Bart De Paepe, who happens to be one of the members of Glen Steenkiste's band Sylvester Anfang II. Everything's linked.
https://www.mixcloud.com/david-colohan/
And, finally, i suspect the title of the particular release you shared, Voor Harmonium, is a reference to a particular post-apocalyptic novel i happen to be reading at the moment, Radix, by A. A. Attanasio. There's this species of telepathic extraterrestrial beings, the Voors, in it. That's a fun reference.
Anyway, as always, thanks for the music, the poems, and the animations, and all the rest. Always a pleasure.