EXCERPTS FROM A FUTURE PAST

For their first full length (well at least traditional LP length) release and 2nd installment of a trilogy, Swedish retro rockers HÄLLAS largely dispensed with the proto metal influences in favour of a lighter but still riff propelled space rock sound. "Excerpts from a Future Past" is also much more cinematic and expansive than the self titled EP, like the songs are an accompaniment to a visual narrative, and luckily the lyrics, vocals and arrangements fully support these connections.

The influences of DEEP PURPLE and URIAH HEEP are felt in the heavy blues oriented aspects and in the extensive use of organ, but HÄLLAS tends to the more melodic aspects, grafting some WISHBONE ASH balladry, which is most evident on the potent "The Golden City of Semyra". Tommy Alexandersson's vocals. while wholly emotive, largely avoid the melodrama that sometimes plagued the original bands, though nobody thought of it that way at the time. Still, it is commendable that, in spite of the retro tag, HÄLLAS has updated aspects of their sound to reflect not just modern technology but also customs.

Compared to the debut, these tracks are also more intricate, with most of the complexity lying in how the various movements are bridged together again, to overuse the imagery analogy, like scenes in a film. The opener, "Astra Seer", "Repentance" and finale "Illusion Sky" are especially adept at this interweaving. My main complaint is that, apart from the overwrought "Shadow of the Templar", this is all enjoyable but falls somewhat short of excellence. That quibble would be rectified in the future, er, the past, yeah in 2020.