A Grove of Ashes and Aspens

Now Playing: The Mountain Rumbles by Hans & Valter

So around this time last year, I talked about the debut album from Swedish symphonic power metal band Hans & Valter, and in a year, they’ve managed to come out with a second album. Hints at a third album have also been made on their Instagram, so I guess we’re keeping an eye out for that as well.

According to the timeline they just put out today, The Prophecy takes place, for the most part, after their previous album, with the story of Hefleth acting as a bit of a bridge between the two. (The timeline is up on their Instagram as well, and it’s very interesting.) The storylines are otherwise mostly disconnected from each other, with the exception of Sean coming back as a dark lord, taking the position of Dark Lord from Renius.

The album starts off with an instrumental track in The Mountain Rumbles, setting the mysterious and seafaring type tone for the album. It’s not long, but it leads quite nicely into the next track.

The Return of Sean is a spooky symphonic power metal anthem, leaving heavily into the heavier nature of Hans’ baritone voice. (I still say we need more baritones and basses in power metal, tenors are needed in choirs.) It details Sean’s curse to return from the dead as a dark lord, ruling over demons and opposing our heroes. It also hints back to his role in the story of the previous album, just as a little reminder of who we’re dealing with here, which I think is a very fun story telling device. Something in the production of this is telling me it’s going to be a very fun song live. I’ll keep my eye on it on that front.

The Prophecy, the title track and one of the singles of the album, is your typical symphonic power metal anthem. It’s catchy, it’s cheesy, it’s everything you could want from it. It’s about the prophecy of Hefleth coming back from the depths to stand against Dark Lord Sean and our party gathering allies for their fight. The keytar solo is fitting, and the vocal bridge chorus sitting over chorals before a key change is appropriately cheesy. It’s exactly what one expects from a symphonic power metal track, and I’m here for it. (Except maybe that it’s just under 4 minutes instead of the 6-12 minutes that Twilight Force continues to grace us with, but we’re not here to compare a relatively new band to a long established band, as that would not be productive.)

The Battle of Goodpeace Mountain was another single from this album, and it has a bit more of the heaviness from some of those power metal roots. It feels like I’m getting blasted by the intensity of the duel in question, where lives and thrones are at stake, and it’s very intriguing. The entire thing makes me want to find out who wins and what happens next. I like how the strings in the background are adding some texture to the vocal melody, on top of the vocal harmonies that are already there. (This is your reminder that yes, I do play a classical string instrument, I am a semi trained violist and I have been meaning to get back into it properly.) I like this track a lot. It feels a lot like the intense moments in my fantasy novels, and I’m not about to complain about that. I’ll happily take a song about a high stakes battle with a key change any day of the week.

In Steve, We Believe is about the party’s cat, a permanently Wild Shaped druid name Steve. Now, if it isn’t already obvious from my presence elsewhere, I like cats. They’re just evil little gremlins and they can do no wrong. Now, a song about a cat who has magic powers? Sign me up. He’s just hanging out and then he’s dragged out of his wine by the call of destiny, and we love him for it. (Also, naming a cat druid “Steve” is kind of hilarious, especially in a fantasy setting, because Steve is one of the most 40 year old white dad names I’ve seen lmao.) This track is fun. It has a simple start, and though the instrumentals are getting weird under the vocals, it stays fun and it brings in a heavier bridge, dragging the interest back into the story. I will always love heavy instrumentals doing that, and the soaring lead vocals at the end show some of the power of Hans’ voice. (Which, by the way, I will forever love that he’s repping power metal baritones, I want more of that pls.)

To the North, despite what the name and my tastes may imply, is not an Elvenking cover. Starting with an organ and choir, it gives the oppressive vibe of being in a frozen wasteland (not that my Canadian ass would know anything about that…), before jumping into more typical metal instrumentals. It’s about victims seen in frozen villages, having been deceived by prophecy and given false hope, and the destruction these battles wreak on the innocent civilians caught in the middle. It’s a darker track, and I really like it when stories aren’t afraid to shy away from how much these kinds of massive battles and fights for the fate of the world suck for the average person who aren’t the protagonists. I find it really interesting to have that other perspective.

The Mountain Crumbles is the long track for this album, clocking in at just under 9 minutes. It has a ballad intro before throwing the listener right into the music and pulling back again. It also starts right in the bottom of Hans’ range, right in those rumbling low notes. (He has said his lowest is a C2, with proper tone and control. I’m jealous.) I’m a lover of low notes, so this got me good immediately. He stays down in the low end for a good bit, before climbing up again. I love the longer look at the battle, keeping the interest throughout, breaking the story into chunks within one longer idea. It gives the entire story of the album a high peak in energy, and I’m all for long songs. A slower mid section keeps the tradition of the middle being the fun of this band’s long songs. (I mean, we all heard the smooth jazz of The Endless Night, right?) Also, the callback to the melody of Hefleth the Pirate from the last album is very fun, it’s a fun little easter egg of “who actually listened to the last album” for those who, like me, enjoy lore and stories in their metal. Hans also goes back down into his low range a little bit in the end of the song, before the song goes into a slower, acoustic end, and I think that’s just delicious.

Space – 1996 was another single from this album, and it’s in a bit of a similar position to Hefleth the Pirate was on the last album. I’m assuming that it’s giving a bit of a hint at the story of the next album, and I’m very curious about what that means. Will we get to see how our heroes interact with space? Will we get to see our heroes fighting aliens? What will those potential aliens look like? Will they be like some of the species in the Wayfarer series? (If you haven’t read that series by Becky Chambers, you should, it’s so good.) I’m looking forward to seeing where the story goes from here.

So yeah, I love this album. It’s cheesy and fun and everything you want from symphonic power metal. I’m curious to see where the story goes from here, and these guys know what’s good.