In 2021 Metal Temple reviewed the former HELEVEN album "Into The Oceans" with a six out of 10. In it our writer Laure Glover classed the music as Melodic Prog Metal. I first wondered if we were talking about the same band, but when I looked at the names of the players, I knew we were. The reason that I bring up this question is that these Spaniards have definitely changed their tune. Maybe that is why they have named this album "New Horizons Pt. 1".

Some more background is that HELEVEN was formed in 2016 and hail from Granada. Apparently their debut album caused such a stir that Art Gates Records decided to step in and sign them. The result is "New Horizons Pt. 1", and I am liking what I hear quite a lot. This is Modern Metal, Nu-Metal if you wish, with a lot if intensity and a whole range of Industrial influences. I did not, do not, and will not listen to enough Nu-Metal to get all the influences and references right, so I will concentrate on giving you an impression of the emotions that are given to me by the music.

First off I have to compliment HELEVEN on the riffing on "New Horizons Pt. 1", as it is above any critique that I may have had beforehand. The riffs are loud, clear, differ from hard to soft in a millisecond. What makes that even more abundantly clear is the song "Last Call To Nowhere", which is chaos in musical form. It is filled to the brim, but still leaves you room to breathe. So that is a strong point of HELEVEN, they allow enough space for the other instruments to be heard, as well as the vocals.  Those I really do need to mention, because it is not often that I have heard vocals the complement the music in such a convincing way. These Spaniards know what they are doing.

The fact that I can not name one single bad song on the album will tell you that HELEVEN is on the right track. That last statement should have you trying to find this gem and have a listen for yourself. Even if you are not a fan of Nu-Metal, or Modern Metal, or whatever you wish to call this, I feel you need to give this a chance HELEVEN might surprise you in a very positive way. They did me!