Review by Sandre the Giant
The name means ‘passing away’, the EP title means ‘death travelling’. It become obvious immediately that the debut EP from Swedish one man black metal band Hädangången is going to be something dark and morbid. Drawing a deep connection to the Scandinavian wilderness, this looks to be some raw and atmospheric stuff. It is out now self released.
Opener ‘Sorgens borg’ actually played with my expectations, a remarkably grim yet clear and concise piece of haunting black metal. Normally when you hear raw black metal in a description, it sounds like a chainsaw in a tin shed, but this has some really nice production to it. The hooting owl behind ‘Själslig frid’ is a nice touch, adding a sense of place to the relentless onslaught of blasting and riffs. The haunting atmospherics of ‘Hägring’ is invigorating; the simple sounds of the woods with a delicate keyboard melody drifting across it, the owl returning, it is a truly atmospheric piece and envelops you in the ethos of this EP more than almost any other part. It is especially contrasting with the following track, ‘Kamp mot allt’, which is possibly the grimmest piece on the whole of ‘Likfärd’.
‘Likfärd’ is a work of natural beauty and atmospheric blackness, each motif laying off each other in fine fashion like wisps in a deep, dark forest. Hädangången have managed to capture both the raw and atmospheric wings of the black metal canon and absorb them into a cohesive whole that takes both and loses nothing. A bleakly beautiful work.
https://www.facebook.com/hadangangen
https://hadangangen.bandcamp.com/album/likf-rd
The Killchain 