Yet another new band from the blooming Finnish metal scene. There are many balls in the air in the land of the 1000 lakes, and much of the new music from Finland is surprisingly good.

Hevein is a pretty unusual band. Their main ingredient is hard hitting thrash, there has been softened with nice and catchy melodies and some nu-metallic breakdowns. Besides that does the band use violin and cello, not some synth-based crap, but the real deal. It brings a somewhat epic and melancholic atmosphere, to the rather punishing music.

Vocally do the band vary between a brutal thrashy screaming voice and a more cross-overish yelling and a great pure vocal, which possesses a lot of emotion and pain. Emotion is the red thread through out the 4 tracks on this demo. The compositions are build upon melancholy, anger and frustrations, or at least that the impression the listener gets.

It is a very interesting release Hevein has made, and the demo did secure the band a deal with Spinefarm Records, and that is deserved. The production on the demo is great, it is very powerful, it more or less forces its way out of the speakers and crushes all within reach. There is also left a lot of room for the instruments, they are all justified in the mix and do sound good.

The strings bring an extra dimension, to Hevein’s already atmospheric universe. Heavy thrash mixed with melody, melancholy and angst ridden modern elements, makes a pretty good whole. It will be exciting to follow the band in the future, as they pretty fast should be able to leave their footprint in the metal universe.

[This review was first published on the now defunct scandinavianmetal.info webzine]