Brace yourself for an incredibly immersive, stirring opus by Icelandic rocker Helgar, ‘ABSURD’!
Right from the opening seconds of ‘ABSURD’, what immediately stands out is the intensely avant-garde audio production quality and powerful musicality that Helgar possesses. Spearheaded by Helgi Pjetur, a veteran of the Icelandic indie music scene, Helgar brings an elevated experience of rock, infused with captivating, emotionally charged arrangements, brave lyrics and incredible sound design & detail. Listeners of alt-rock groups such as Muse, Twenty One Pilots & Radiohead will absolutely love this!
‘ABSURD’ is one half of a track release, intense expressions in their own right. While its companion track, ‘ANGER’ takes a darker route, ‘ABSURD’ leans into a grandly cinematic, chaotic rock approach. Based upon our universally shared sense of surrealism of living through current times, Helgar taps into a scathing, collective anger and restlessness at the absurd status quo and asks repeatedly, ‘Why can’t we make it stop? Its so absurd!’
We open onto a stirring bassline, ominous atmospherics & strong live drums, setting up a stellar intro for the opening verse. Helgi sings with urgent coolness, raw and reflective, “Cutting through the fold like a newborn child, Im burning, we’re burning..”. The lyrics express a wholly relatable outrage and incredulity at where we’re at as a species.
Building momentum fantastically, the track wastes little time in exploding in an emotional, urgent outburst of a chorus that’s sonically brilliant and gripping. Helgi sings with a powerful disdain for our absurd ways, his voice riding strong on the electrifying arrangements. It’s revolutionary in some regard and makes you feel like it all hinges on this realization of the absurdity of our ways and how we mend things now.
Musically, there’s just so much to like about ‘ABSURD’, where do we start? From those immaculate drumming progressions and patterns, the shimmering, constantly shifting. distorting synth melodies, scintillating guitars and dense atmospherics. It all comes together quite brilliantly, making this one of the best-sounding alt-rock tracks of the year!
“ABSURD”is a high-quality track that exudes honesty, character and a rich sound. Speaks volumes to Helgi’s capacity to blend indie sensibilities with grandly immersive sound design.
In Helgar’s words, ‘”I want listeners to feel something. To see themselves in the lyrics, or reinterpret them through their own lens.”
So, what do you see when you listen to ‘ABSURD’?
Stream it on Spotify here:
