There’s something coming out of the rising wood works in the heart of Sweden, sitting down typing out the next review for the new year. But with massive amounts of flaming fire, spreading across like a mo-fo, adding in the touches of Styx, Kayak, Opeth, Deep Purple, Rush, and Boston. That band is Hällas. They’ve been around since 2011 by Jesper Nodbrant, Tommy Alexandersson, and Kasper Eriksson. They play a mixture of prog rock, hard rock, and metal, rolled into one giant smoothie that’ll get your taste buds wanting more in a genre they call, “adventure rock”.
Yes, you heard right, “adventure rock”. Three studio albums and one live album, you can’t go wrong for a band that have created their own alternate soundtrack inside the listener’s head as they read from the realms of Heavy Metal, Marvel and Dark Horse comics as the pictures come to life with unexpected momentum. Mind you, I’m very new to the world of Hällas’ music, and I have to say, I’m impressed from what I heard after listening to their new album this year entitled Panorama.
The album cover bears some striking resemblance to Genesis’ first-real album originally released in 1970 on the Charisma label entitle Trespass that brings to mind, but adding in that nod to Lord of the Rings and Dungeons and Dragons with its fantasy-side in the crossover realms. The album tackle’s themes of different perspective through their prog-orientated and metallic power that hits you like a massive jolt of electricity, sending shock wave to your spine.
From the moment the 20-minute epic ‘Above the Continuum’ begins, it starts off with Mellotron choir, spaghetti western’s galore, then into this arena rock momentum from the synthesisers, droning momentum, galloping drums, and ‘80s synth fanfare, you know this is going to get hard, really fast. Think Goblin’s Tenebre meets Rush’s 2112 in a hallucinogenic trip with mesmerizing pictures. That’s how heavy Hällas get into.
Once it goes into this galloping nightmare in complex signatures, we’re not talking about ELP, but Hallas tipping their hat to Norwegian’s own Ring Van Mobius. Bits of Strawbs in the middle and Premiata Forneria Marconi, but in a darker alleyway, knowing the danger that is out there.
I had no idea on what to expect to hear this battle between the forces of good and evil in this background, but man, Hallas know their shit very well. Then, enter a cave of someone going through a mental breakdown with the synths going up-and-down on the double-tracking vocals the band endures.
Remember when you heard Kayak’s golden-era when they entered the Merlin period? Well, it heads into that direction with choirs, intense rhythm sections, blaring organ, and guitars soaring into the heavenly sky. I believe they’re using the Moog synthesizer on this bad boy by cranking it up to 11 until the last seven minutes where Mellotrons descend across this lullaby land reflecting their childhood and the wonderful memories flowing into the middle.
It becomes softer and relaxed before the battle resumes with double-tracking guitars that burst through the flood gates. Think Iron Maiden’s first two albums, but with a power metal momentum! It brought me back re-listening to Maiden’s music 20 years ago and falling in love with the way the late, great Paul Di’Anno and Bruce Dickinson have kept the Maiden flag alive in a way that Hällas are carrying it and heading towards the mountain top.
But what’s this? More galloping? Oh, hell yeah! Horse neighing off into Sleepy Hollow as the ‘Face of an Angel’ goes into this glam rock momentum, but with its epic proportions once more. It drifts into powerful riffs, killer solos, sing-along lyrics, epic chorus. When I say ‘Epic’, I mean they know their epic arrangements down to a ‘T’.
‘The Emissary’ will make you want to dig out your arena rock LPs from the minds of Aviary, Styx, Boston, Kayak, and Canadian unsung maestros Klaatu’s album Hope. Man, do they know their source material or what when it comes to the late ‘70s, early ‘80s sound in a way they were the people’s band, and believe me, Hällas gets down to business while ‘Bestiaus’ calms down their electrical instruments into a softer piano arrangement, detailing the gruesome scene from the battlefield.
Closing up the castle is ‘At the Summit’ where we find our heroes using a gentle classical guitar and pipe organ giving the listener a strength to carry on before it heads into the universes of Budgie, Deep Purple, and Uriah Heep with an eruptive cannon blast! This caught me off-guard for what our fellow Swedish comrades ride off into the night for metallic guitars and organ work channeling Ritchie Blackmore, Jon Lord, Mick Box, David Byron, Ken Hensley, and Tony Bourge.
It’s way too early to say that Panorama will probably be the album of the year for 2026. But it is an excellent way to start the new year off with a big bang. It is in turns the imaginative adult-animated movie with a killer soundtrack inside your head. It is overwhelming, ecstatic, mind-blowing and out of this world release. Be prepared to wake the neighbors up as Hällas themselves, in the words of HUNTR/X from the 2025 movie KPop Demon Hunters, show others, how it’s done, done, done!
