HÄLLAS – Hällas EP

Hällas – Hällas EP (2015, The Sign Records)

Walking the same paths as Kadavar and Uncle Acid, Hällas from Sweden is making music that the vinyl geeks of today would wet their pants to.

More seriously, Hällas reminds me of the music my father used to spin when I was three years old from his old records collection of Deep Purple, Bachman Turner Overdrive, and Uriah Heep. Since then, this 70’s sound has been the foundation of my musical tastes.

So the youngsters of Hällas with their self-titled EP are making their entry in the Classic Rock genre with a more contemporary sound that mimics the past’s greatest rockers. Of all the orchestrations, I would mention that the drums might be the weakest link here because of its recording more than the performance as it is. As a drummer myself I often notice this instrument in my first three to five listens of a record and I often get hooked just by the quality of the instrument. As with the rest of the EP, it is recorded with some sort of a pillow lowering the high notes and I think that the drumming suffers from this treatment of the music and compared to the drumming of legend Ian Paice we have a more distant sound.

However, I must admit getting into this EP really easily and the subsequent listens were pleasant and instead of getting on my nerves like Uncle Acid or Kadavar, I could get back at it eagerly. The four songs featured are all interesting and have nice twists and structures. 

From ‘’Autumn In Space’’ to ‘’Hällas’’ we have a superb first impression of the band’s potential. In fact, I hope they kept many other hits for a future LP because it will be a must. Just listen to the song ‘’Tale of a Tyrant’’ is remarkable and it is filled with great riffs.

8.0