Hajnalpír is a recent discovery and I am still under its spell. The band has released its first material digitally in September last year but very recently this excellent S/T album has seen a proper tape release, via the Hungarian label Blindblindblind. The tape is limited to 70 handmade pieces so if you want to add this amazing item to your collection, you’d better hurry up before they’ll be gone for good.
That being said, let me tell you a bit about this fantastic record. First of all, Hajnalpír is a new band which has emerged from the dark catacombs of the Budapest underground. Who its members are is not important, as the focus is on the music, but what it matters is that they are no newcomers to the scene.
The S/T contains 7 songs, with a duration of almost 23 minutes, so you can imagine the result being a vicious assault of an almost barbaric proportion. After a very short intro all hell breaks loose with “A semmi a minden” (“Everything is nothing”) and all is clear from the very start. What we deal here with is raw black metal (I could say pretty much in the vein of the mid ’90s Swedish and Norwegian scene), mixed here and there with some melancholic parts (check out those guitar lines, they are beautiful!), only to create an oppressive and destructive atmosphere.
The vocals are fantastic, ranging from possessed shrieks to graver tones (the title track is the best example) while the instruments follow very quickly behind. The Hungarian lyrics and song names add an extra mystique to this already savage music, preserving its originality and wickedness. The drumming is insane and if you might think there’s a drum machine behind the kit, I can assure you that’s not true. It is a machine indeed, but a human one.
Because of its savagery, the album sounds like a mix of Marduk with early Funeral Mist or Triumphator (e.g. on “Árok” the drummer goes completely berserk), but if you listen closely you’ll find out there’s more than that. Each track has a soul of its own and even if they are very short, the songs are also very complex. After all, who needs a +1 hour album when you can have the essential in less than 30 minutes?
If on the title track the tempo slows down a bit allowing you to breathe, everything goes wild again on the last 3 songs, which are also the longest of this record: “Ősi halál” (“Ancient Death”), “Fekete Vihar” (“Black Storm”) and “Keletre bukó nap” (“The sun falls to the east”, if I translated correctly). Devastating blast beats, guitar tremolos and ferocious screams create an apocalyptic imagery of the end of the world. Quite pessimistic for some, but do not forget this is a black metal record.
Even if I love every track on this album, “Fekete Vihar” is my favorite one of the whole record. There is a hidden sadness in this track that perfectly hits the spot and makes me resonate so much with it.
“Kísértet leszek vagy árnyék inkább
Tomboló fekete vihar
Penészes falak közt egyedül járok
A boldogság farkasa lelkembe mar”
Once the lyrics have been spat out, backed up by melodic riffs and blast beats, towards the end of the song the vocalist lets out an intense blood curdling scream which slowly dissipates into the void, like a constant reminder of the inevitable end. What a majestic piece of work!!
Hajnalpír has created a very strong and balanced debut album that will not let you bored for a second. This is a great black metal record, fresh, violent and with an incredible musicianship. The good news is the band has another release in the making, which will probably come out later on, as a 7″ split EP with another Hungarian band, Havária. Till then, FTW!
Hajnalpír – S/T Track list:
- A semmi a minden
- Vérzik a horizont
- Árok
- Hajnalpír
- Ősi halál
- Fekete vihar
- Keletre bukó nap
Band contact:
scrollsofdarmoth.com 