The GB Album Club 008 - Masstaden Under Vatten by Vildhjarta

Hi diddly ho there, neighborinos. It’s me, Faceless, not Uncle Jam, but me, on a super early Monday (because I'm currently nocturnal), introducing the eighth pick of the Giant Bomb Album Club, which was submitted by me, "Måsstaden Under Vatten" by Vildhjarta.

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For those asking "what genre are they," we're back to progressive metal, but this time with the Meshuggah inspired djent variant, which is certainly in stark contrast to who we've listened to last week, Arthur Verocai's eponymous album, and goes a little harder than our third pick, Where Owls Know My Name by Rivers of Nihil. As far as our album pool goes in terms of metal (of which we're still not taking new submissions for because we have enough albums until December), this is the heaviest album that was submitted (I know, me forcing people to listen to extreme metal; surprise surprise), so I am very curious to see how my non-metal fan compatriots have taken to the album, who have also kindly joined our Discord server for various discussions and topics. And for those who haven't joined the server, I'll mention this here as well: There's also an instrumental version of the album for extra credit and/or easy mode:

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So, since I think I've made the necessary plugs to the Discord server, let's see how the chips fall for thall. ...And, in before for someone mentions Swedish Chef. I know you were thinking of him, so there you go.

I've only just started listening to this one, but I did think it was funny that after listening to about a song and a half and stopping it (as my wife came in the room and has NO interest in it), I could actually hear the silence where the music had been.

This is the first album I listened to for the album club that I gave up on. I got through 40 minutes of this album and found it off-putting for just about the entire duration, which is especially bad because the album is a staggering 80 minutes long. The music here sounds like a jazz band and a math band thrown in a wood chipper. It is aggressively loud, chaotic, and muddy. I could barely pick out individual instruments, to the point where I put on another loud metal album just to make sure it wasn't just my speakers. It wasn't, this album is just mixed with everything turned up to 11 fighting for the same space. I also could barely discern when one song started and another ended because of how similar the sound was throughout the album and how many times the individual songs change tempo without warning. This is a stay away for me. Unless you are already 1000% in for whatever metal subgenre this is, there is almost nothing to grab onto.

The one positive takeaway I had was that the individual musicians in the band are clearly skilled at their instruments. It's a shame the mixing prevented me from calling out any specific riff or beat that I enjoyed.

This was a tough one for me to get through. These guys clearly have talent and are passionate about the music they're making, but as someone not well-versed in this specific metal sub-genre, this was a difficult introduction to this sound.

My biggest issue was just the overall complexity of the rhythm. There's rarely anything that felt like a coherent melody that I could really count on to help guide me through the song, and even though that sort of complex "math rock" rhythm isn't exclusive to this band, I don't personally have a ton of exposure to it in other genres either. Even in jazz and other jazz-adjacent genres where there is a looser structure to the songs, the intensity typically isn't dialed up to the extent that it is here, so it's a bit easier to get into a groove and just vibe with it.

I will say that there are some other similar bands like Animals as Leaders that were suggested in the Discord that I listened to a bit of and generally liked more than this album. So, I'm not totally against this particular style of metal, but I didn't find Vildhjarta to be the easiest entry point.

I'm about halfway through now, and honestly, I don't hate it. I just wish there were a bit more to grab onto melodically. There are touches here and there, but only enough to catch my attention, hoping for more. Also, it is way too long. There is a certain interesting quality of the band seemingly trying to fill every auditory path in an overwhelming fashion, but it is only interesting to me, and not enjoyable.

So I struggle with any genre that has the word "math" in it, or any music where there's a huge emphasis on the arrangement and the technical details. Your prog X or your technical Y or your math Z or whatever. This is not just a metal issue for me.

I do appreciate the craft, and this isn't to say that there isn't anything I like in these kinds of genres. There's beauty and catharsis to be found in the way the pieces fit together and the way that a sense of order can appear in chaos and imbue something that should be dysfunctional with meaning. But I don't like being too aware of the construction because, to put it in language I'm sure my fellow video game people can relate to, it breaks my sense of immersion and keeps me at an arm's length. It distracts from the humanity at the core and instead focuses on objectivity I find frigid and robotic. Yes, I am the guy who picked a jazzy album last week, but the aesthetic and arrangement of Arthur Verocai was such that I focused on the sense of expression and the aesthetic rather than the seams holding it all together.

Måsstaden Under Vatten is an almost indisputably impressive album. One that I didn't have any trouble getting through unlike some people here. (Despite the fact that it's only my second metal album!) But the reason I brought up all the stuff about math rock and all that is because I think my issue with this album is that it paints a little too much inside the lines.

There's the intricacy of the arrangements, which are incredible, and there's the intended effect. That explosive catharsis you're supposed to get from metal. The problem is that it's very hard for me to reach that catharsis when it comes in this highly technical package. As a result, I enjoyed this album a lot from an outside intellectual standpoint. But I didn't feel anything. The intended abrasiveness of the music and the vocals* didn't feel abrasive. I wanted the album to knock me on my ass, but it couldn't because we were at cross-purposes.

Part of this on me. The issue might be that I'm pigeonholing metal by insisting it can only serve one function, which is to knock me into submission. I might be asking something from all metal that only some metal is trying to provide. But, really, I want to feel anything at all, and I just kinda didn't.

That said, I don't feel as negatively towards this album as some here clearly do. Part of the fun of exploring metal for the first time is not overthinking it. (A task I clearly failed.) I'm not used to hearing guitars make those noises or drum kicks to be so fast. So on and so forth. It's new and it's surprisingly exciting, and between this and Rivers of Nihil, I'm convinced that it's only a matter of effort and time before I find a metal album I'll love. I just need something with more grit. (@justin258 linked me to some Converge in the Discord, and yeah, that's pretty promising.)

FAVORITE SONGS: "Lavender Haze," "Måsstadens nationalsång (Under Vatten)," "Detta drömmars sköte en slöja till ormars näste"

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*A quick note on growly metal vocals. (Apologies, metal fans, for not knowing the name, assuming it has one.) I don't think they're for me. The problem is that it feels more like a gimmick to me, and I find them distracting and, honestly, kind of silly more than I find them rough or intentionally ugly. Just me though.

My original plan was to say nothing beyond the introduction and just opinions be as they are. Like with video games, I'm a huge proponent of encouraging people to form their own thoughts without me (or journalists in regards to gaming) either intentionally or indirectly influencing their opinions or setting expectations. But since I'm getting the impression of an awkward silence, both here and on the server, I reluctantly feel the need to give my perspective/justifications for putting it in the pool, and some of the discussion about the album is giving me more to work with, as opposed to me just saying "I like this album and here's why."

As I've said in the server, in other threads and on other websites: This is my favorite album of 2021. Vildhjarta is one of my favorite bands of all time. And weeks are rarely gone by where I haven't listened to either Måsstaden Under Vatten, the first Måsstaden released in 2011, or the Thousands of Evils EP from 2013. Whether you count from 2011 or 2013, waiting for a follow up was a long time coming due to lineup changes and COVID. Granted that I've listened to Måsstaden and Thousands of Evils religiously before Under Vatten finally released, there was a void for my taste for djent that wasn't being satisfied by other groups in the neighborhood. I can agree with Animals as Leaders being more approachable to normies because, at least based on my listen of their eponymous album, showcases what the djent branch of progressive metal is about without being as idiosyncratic as Måsstaden Under Vatten. But with someone with a strong affinity for more abrasive music, like with Where Owls Know My Name by Rivers of Nihil, they just don't go hard enough for me to have the autonomous sensory meridian response that I get from metal music that I really enjoy. And another more "accessible" djent band that comes to mind is Periphery and their eponymous album where I'd give them a light to decent six-out-of-ten. With all that said, aside from maybe Välde by Humanity's Last Breath (which released their album during the same year as Under Vatten but I haven't discovered them until this year), I haven't found a lot of djent and/or prog metal that really triggers ASMR for me.

To focus on Under Vatten and give clarity as to how I listen to the album: Yes, I will admit a full hour and twenty minutes is very long in the tooth and that I only do full laps of the album when I'm either painting (either traditional or digitally), riding my bike though a few neighborhoods, or grinding in an RPG, it's like how I enjoyed Kylie Minogue's Fever (and other albums) where my absolute favorite tracks and the moments within those songs overshadow the songs that I don't replay as much, or, "objectively" speaking, could be called pretentious filler. The lead single for the album, "den helige anden" (which released in 2019 with English vocals while Under Vatten was named "koas2" during the production period) has two of my favorite guitar passages at the 1:18 and 3:42 marks. Replaying those segments in the English version gave me my fix for guitar work that resonates with me on that higher level of enjoyment, but there's an instrumental version by João Medeiros that elevated that euphoria for me, and of course it's the official instrumental version where the track hits its absolute peek for me. And it's a similar story with my other favorite tracks, such as "när de du älskar kommer tillbaka från de döda" where I listen to both the original and instrumental versions depending on whether or not I want to hear the choir-like singing at the 2:40 mark, or having the vocals off and giving the ambient layers of the track more room to breathe. The first minute of "Vagabond" is another heavy hitter for me, especially the seven notes that play between 0:40 and 0:42. "Måsstadens Nationalsång (under vatten)" directly references the first Måsstaden album by recreating passages and motifs from Shadow, Dagger, Phobon Nika and the original Måsstadens Nationalsång. And the last of my major favorites which is also the final track, "Paaradiso", for me is the perfect cinematic and satisfying end to Under Vatten's adventure. Not that I'm too concerned about the length of any song or album (unless I'm either bored by it or I strongly dislike it), it's one of the few ten minute tracks that I can enjoy with and without skipping to my favorite passages. Tracks that aren't in my top five such as "lavender haze", "toxin", "brännmärkt", "heartsmear", and "penny royal poison" still have some aspects and moments that captivate me, such as the last segment of "brännmärkt" transitioning into "den helige anden" with an abruptness that feels cohesive to the entire album, even more so with shorter passages and riffs that are sprinkled throughout the album that brings everything together in a complete, albeit long-winded package, as opposed to just a collection of singles.

So, based on what I'm seeing so far in regards to the responses, clearly Under Vatten is not for those who are new to metal, who are fairweather fans of metal, or were on the opposite end of how I felt about Michael Monroe and glam a few weeks ago. I said this in the server and I'll say it again: This was my close-to-the-chest pick. I couldn't have cared less about trying to put in a more "accessible" album, or trying to present this album as some sort of recommendation. I mean, shit; a part of me knew that it wouldn't be received well and that some might even bail on it. Because of my strong attachment to the groups that I like to the extent of having an Ibanez GRX20 and the 20 watt Fender Champion in the hopes of learning someday, this was me really putting in an aspect of my personality and thought processes into the playlist; purely a passion pick; probably for similar reasons for shindig choosing The Twilight Sad, which I respect even if the music didn't click with me either. So, it is what it is as far as folks not latching on to it over a weekend as much as I have over a year. ...and also because I've been listening to this album for about a year and have enjoined Vildhjarta for over a decade.

Thanks for adding it to the pool. To me, the whole point of the club was to be exposed to a wide variety of different music I may not have heard on my own. This is certainly not something I would have found by my own designs, and while it isn't my cup of tea, that doesn't diminish the fact that the exploration and discovery itself is an enjoyable process.

Same as what @redwing42 said. This is the exact kind of thing I wanted in the pool because otherwise I never would've listened to it. Or maybe I would've tried metal from some more approachable direction rather than just jumping in the deep end. It's been way more interesting this way.

I'd take Rivers of Nihil over this, so far. Brannmarkt has a really nice outtro but it came out of nowhere. As the album goes on, there's more of that but you have to fish through a ton of speed drumming before they'll give it to you.

EDIT: Yep. It's a 'one of those'. I know genres are, at some level, supposed to be formulaic but this type of metal doesn't do anything for me.

Much like the Arthur Verocai post, I'm sorry to bump this thread and apologize for being so late. Sometimes things happen and you gotta spend time catching up.

Anyway, right, Vildhjarta. Masstaden Under Vatten.

I've listened to quite a bit of "extreme" metal before. Or music, if you prefer - just because it utilizes harsh vocals and lots of distortion doesn't mean it falls into the category of "metal". Vildhjarta sits firmly in "djent" territory, and I'm not going to argue if that's metal or not, but I will tell you that I'm not a particular fan of djent. It's not that I particularly dislike it, there are times in the past where I've enjoyed it, but I've never really been super into it. Masstaden Under Vatten, from what I can tell, seems to be considered a recent masterpiece entry into the genre, but it hasn't done much to change my mind.

Don't get me wrong, there are definitely parts of this album I like. Included on this album are some of the thickest riffs I've ever heard. Not the heaviest, necessarily, or the most crushing, but some of these riffs filled every single corner of my eardrums while they were playing. Drum patterns vary constantly and are very frequently engaging and heavy and fast without relying on constant double bass pedals and blast beats played as fast as possible. Everyone else seems to be on their A-game, too. But this album, for me, has three significant problems.

Firstly, it only has two modes - crazy complex drumming to drive those incredibly thick riffs and much more "creepy atmospheric" passages that soften things up and just let someone make some noises on an electric guitar (or whatever, I'm sure there's a keyboard or something in here somewhere). There's not much variation between these two and it leads to the album feeling very same-y. I understand that if you spend time taking apart these songs and paying close attention, you'll find that these songs aren't actually repeating riffs and actually are changing things up a lot, but they never change things up in a way that feels significantly different from something they were doing before. As a result, the album all runs together, which leads into my next comment.

It's about twice as long as it needs to be. I'd have a much higher opinion of this album if it had been forty minutes long or less. As it stands, I think it's completely out of ideas and completely out of steam at about the forty minute mark. I don't understand Swedish so perhaps the story they're trying to tell needs an 80 minute long album... but if so, they really needed to rethink how they were going to vary things up. I listened to this album in two sessions and even though I listened to the final third or so a day after listening to the first two thirds, I was still just fatigued. Remember, I was the guy who suggested Rivers of Nihil's Where Owls Know My Name, and this album was selected right as I was listening to a lot of Gorgut's The Erosion of Sanity. I'm not fatigued because of how abrasive this kind of music can be. I'm fatigued by this album because it hits a few high highs early on and then just stays there for an hour and twenty minutes.

Thirdly, and this leans into what I've said above, I don't like the production all that much. I know what I said above about these riffs being really thick and heavy, but when those riffs aren't filling the room, they're hidden behind some really loud drums and a guy screaming. This contributed to the fatigue I felt throughout the album. I don't think it's bad, necessarily, but - once again - I think forty minutes of this would have been so, so, so much better.

...but I'm not sure if even a forty minute version of this would have made me more interested in djent, or even more of this band. It's one of those things I can appreciate when it comes up, but overall I'm not really into this.

Well folks, for those in the back who haven't noticed yet, I think it goes to show that not every metal fan is on the same wavelength. And if this album is going to be looked back on as the most pretentious album of the season one picks, I will gladly accept it.