Hailing from Germany, Halgadom is a multi-genre band whose music switches between melodic Pagan metal to absolutely awe-inspiring neo folk music. Their 2008 release, 'Heimstatt' is in a single word, marvelous. Absolutely breathtaking duel acoustic guitar work, cello, drums and passionate vocals sung in German are what your ears can expect to hear when listening to Heimstatt. With the music being delivered at a somewhat faster pace then say Darkwood or Forseti's work, it may sound somewhat odd to the average neo folk listener at first, but I'm quite sure a few listens will reveal the beauty behind this album (if for some reason your not instantly convinced). Though if you prefer the slower folk ballads then this is surely made available on three of the songs, anyway.
The lyrics are of course entirely in German, so I'm not exactly sure what they deal with, but they've always labeled themselves as a Pagan band so its a safe bet to say they center around the Nordic Mythology and various Pagan themes. The band also re-recorded two songs from the Verdunkelung album, though they don't sound entirely different, but nevertheless they fit in perfectly with the rest of the songs on this album. Of course the production on this recording is nearly perfect and I must admit that the nice digipak the album comes in suites the recording nicely.
All at once Heimstatt is catchy, beautiful, melancholic, uplifting and just plain fun to listen too. As a whole I find very little fault in this recording, and since picking this release up in 2008 Halgadom has become one of my absolute favorite bands. The band released another new album last year, but I haven't gotten my hands on it just yet. I do however hope to hear it soon.
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