The day is finally here: Norwegian blackened Viking heavy metal solo-band HJELVIKreleases his masterpiece Welcome to Hel, a monumental debut album enshrouded in a mystical fog of Norse mythology and steeped in the classic sounds of metal, both underground and mainstream.
Frontman Erlend Hjelvik comments: “Yes, it’s finally time to unleash the beast that is ‘Welcome to Hel’! I’ve been listening to this album for over a year now, so I’m really excited to share my vision of METAL with the world. I’m immensely proud of what I’ve created here together with my talented crew consisting of Rob Steinway, Alexis Lieu and Kevin Foley. I can’t thank them enough with the awesome job they did on the album. I would also like to thank engineer and mixer Justin Phelps, mastering engineer Alan Douches for making the album sound awesome, Joe Petagno for his legendary cover art, the fine Nuclear Blast family for putting it out and my wife and manager Shelby for working day and night to make HJELVIK and ‘Welcome to Hel’ a reality. Finally, I would like to thank all my dedicated fans for all the support, it really means a lot. I hope you guys enjoy my album as much as I did making it and look forward to seeing you all on the road soon! Praise Odin and skål!”
HJELVIK‘s first solo album Welcome to Hel, based on Norse mythology and history, includes all the trappings of a lucrative Viking pillage. The album was recorded and mixed at The Hallowed Halls in Portland, Oregon, US by Justin Phelps (Joe Satriani, Poison Idea, Slough Feg) and mastered by Grammy award-winning engineer, Alan Douches (Mastodon, Converge, Baroness). Special guest appearances by Matt Pike (Sleep, High on Fire) on ‘Glory of Hel’ and Mike Scalzi (Slough Feg) on ‘Necromance’ are also included. The legendary Joe Petagno created the Welcome to Hel cover artwork and HJELVIK logo and is responsible for creating the timeless iconic images we all love from bands like Motörhead, Led Zeppelin, Nazareth.
Erlend HJELVIK‘s first two singles + music videos from the Welcome to Hel debut album here:
Welcome to Hel tracklist:
1. Father War
2. Thor’s Hammer
3. Helgrinda
4. The Power Ballad of Freyr
5. Glory of Hel
6. 12th Spell
7. Ironwood
8. Kveldulv
9. North Tsar
10. Necromance
— HJELVIK is the new solo-band of ex-KVELERTAK frontman, lyricist and co-founder Erlend Hjelvik. After touring worldwide with some of the world’s greatest bands like METALLICA, SLAYER and GHOST and earning four Norwegian Spellemann awards, Erlend parted ways with his bandmates in 2018 and has spent the last two years songwriting and creating HJELVIK‘s first solo album.
HJELVIK is: Erlend Hjelvik – Vocals, Lyrics, and Songwriting Rob Steinway – Lead Guitar Remi André Nygård – Rhythm Guitar Alexis Lieu – Bass Kevin Foley – Drums
Nuclear Blast is proud to announce that ex-KVELERTAK frontman, Erlend Hjelvik, has started a solo metal band HJELVIK and has signed with Nuclear Blast Records! Jens Prueter, Head of A&R at Nuclear Blast Europe, adds: “It’s been 10 years ago […]