The Swedes of Vildhjarta ("wild heart") were the next generation of progressive metal with a djent tendency thanks to their technical, sensitive, wild and harsh music. Their first album, "Måsstaden" ("City of Seagulls"), was very well received and underlined the band's creativity. Ten years later, the musicians offer their second album while the djent flame is extinguished, diluted in progressive metal.
Nothing is stable, everything moves on this "Måsstaden Under Vatten": the rhythms are fluctuating, the vocals marries multiple styles, the ambiences are varied and the rhythmic signatures numerous. Changes are the leitmotiv of 'Vagabond' which starts with a stripped guitar, then piles up thick riffs. A beautiful post-modern track with a crushing groove. Diversity is also the soil of 'Mitt Trötta Hjarta', which combines jazz-like passages with primal screams from the underworld.
The Swedes write the rules of their progressive metal, uncluttered, liberated, freed from the djent burden. Thus, from the first seconds of 'Lavender Haze' everything is said: polyrhythm, enveloping power, aggressiveness dosed with accuracy and technical mastery. 'Phantom Assassin' flirts with post-metal with guitars that dissolve in a sea of synthetic keyboards; drums and guitar disunite and then merge a few moments later. This mastery is not at the expense of the melody, as it permeates this track in the manner of 'Space Dye Vest'.
'Paradisio' closes the record with mastery. This track oscillates between clear guitar and crushing riffs, thundering blasts and simple guitar that fade away the leaded riffs. But it's the power that always stands out, as the massive guitars quickly take over to build a climactic ending.
Ten years after his first record, Vildhjarta offers a modern work far from the djent of the origins. "Måsstaden Under Vatten" explores a multitude of registers to give his synthetic vision between Textures, Meshuggah or Novelists.