LP Review: "No Stars Upon The Bridge" by Hallatar

No Stars Upon The Bridge

The prevailing though in my mind is that there's someone missing from my life.

My cousin died about two years ago now. My facebook "memories" have all sorts of statuses about him.

So, there's certainly a melancholy that's coming over me today and Hallatar have entered in and are drawing me to that time.

The best music, in my humble opinion, is something that will grab you by the scruff of the neck and hurtle you backwards in time...or perhaps forwards.

Then without noticing it, your mind is reliving a moment in your life. It's almost as if you're Sam Beckett from Quantum Leap...but it's within your own lifetime. I suppose, the proper science fiction analogy is About Time.

Hallatar by Jussi Ratilainen

So, I'm staring out at the service. My entire family is there, along with about forty people I do not know.

It's been so long since I've seen some of them, that they're unrecognizable to me...or maybe it's because of the beer or the whiskey...

That's what No Stars Upon The Bridge does to me.

With a hook around my navel, it drags me, kicking and screaming into a moment in my life.

One that I wish I could forget, but cannot.

This album is painful trip through a personal hell. That is not to disparage this record in any way. It's masterful. The songs don't tread upon hallowed ground, yet they blaze their own trails.

The mournful arpeggios and the guttural howls work as a one two punch that's stronger than Ali bringing down Frazier.

This album may not take you where you'd like to be, but it will move you. Remember that pain reminds us that we're still alive.

Release: 10/13/17
Genre: Funeral Doom
Label: Svart Records
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