Vildhjarta

Vildhjarta is a progressive death metal band from Hudiksvall, Sweden that formed in 2005. They play an aggressive Meshuggah-influenced djent style, characterised by harmonic minor progressions, jarring inharmonic staccato riffs, raspy whisper-screams interwoven with death growls, and layers of reverberant guitars. They were signed to Century Media Records in 2011. The band's name, Vildhjarta, originates from a Swedish edition of Dungeons & Dragons with the same name. Vildhj?rta with umlauts means "wild heart" in Swedish.

Vildhjarta was formed by Daniel Bergstr?m, Jimmie ?kerstr?m and Johan Nyberg in 2005 in Hudiksvall, Sweden. Hyped since their early days thanks to short demos that circulated the web, they have taken more than half a decade to musically craft their style of music. With the three spread throughout Sweden, Bergstr?m, the main songwriter of the bunch, would email ideas to the others to get their feedback and suggestions. A groovy, down-tuned riff would soon become a verse. After a few more rounds of emailing, that verse would become a song. As more and more songs started to develop, the natural progression was to add more members and become a band. More members brought more input and ideas and soon their own take on metal was created.

As the songs developed and appeared online, so did a rabid fan base. They spread links to the band's songs, promoted them on message boards and rallied behind the war cry of THALL, a word that has almost become synonymous with the band's name. They demanded to see the band perform, so the band got together and appeared on a few festivals and shows throughout Europe, most notably, the 2010 edition of Euroblast.

According to Vildhjarta guitarist Daniel Bergstr?m, commitment to their fans and "the art of music itself", only allowed for three songs to be released in the four years before the release of their first full length album. After years of negotiation with metal label giant Century Media they signed a worldwide record contract in the Spring of 2011. Their debut album, M?sstaden, is a concept-album that "tells the tale of a hidden and isolated town, narrated in a classic fable manner". Sources of inspiration included The Jungle Book and Mumindalen. The album received favourable reviews from critics, who called it "a harsh, fantastic, concept work.".