Review Summary: Nothing lost and nothing gained.
With all due respect to both Spectral Lore and Jute Gyte, their expertise in metal notwithstanding, I listened to
Helian with rather low expectations and with the utmost patience I could possibly muster.
Helian does exactly what I feared most: it shuns creativity in favor of quintessential black metal tropes, it panders to its audience so blatantly in its execution, and does little to justify their expansive scope in a way that is truly inspiring to all guitar-god hopefuls. Jute Gyte's microtonal methodry is, at first, staggering to behold yet leaves much to be desired; it's a slab of metallic decadence without character nor the power to break free from its atmospheric characteristics. The most devastating aspect of Jute Gyte's work is an overbearing insistence of depriving the piece of the momentum it thrives on; its mannerisms both add to the effect of the track and detract from the development of it as well.
Where the meandering ways of Jute Gyte ends one track, the all-encompassing Spectal Lore stakes a claim on capturing the attention of its audience – whether it be yours truly or someone else – at the risk of taking too great an emphasis on hard-edged riffage.
Helian works its way through the motions, going to such lengths to establish the commonly-heard metal clichés and dispersing them, as well as taking claim to originality in a haphazard fashion that leaves no justification to the great overindulgence they have left in their wake. In their bargain with their own lack of originality, Spectral Lore and Jute Gyte only contribute to the ongoing flow of point-blank excess in the genre today with nothing to offer but a scant record to show for it.
