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✦✦✦✧ Vildhjarta prefers their djent jarring and jazzy (djarring and djazzy). Good god, this album is heavy. But the heaviness hides some inner subtlety and beauty, in the staccato spaces between the palm mutes and quarter-note crashes. Vilhelm Bladin’s Swedish screaming are paradoxically an essential part of the listening experience, adding a layer of focus and attention to the music that can often sound chaotic at best; familiarity with the Swedish language is not required. The music is unpredictable as to be delightfully surprising, without being so unpredictable that you can never get some kind of tenuous handle on it. And just when the chaos gets to be too much, the band introduce a theme or a chord progression as a lifeline. Very thoughtful. One thing: the album is punishingly long (80 minutes); best to consume it in multiple listens.

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