What do you do when one of your best friends gets diagnosed with cancer? How do you handle losing someone close to you? Vægtløs are trying to wade into questions like these on their upcoming album, which solely includes songs about people close to the band who died or suffered deadly diseases. Vægtløs focuses on a vulnerability and openness that are lacking in the music scene, but also in society, in general. Life is fleeting and fragile, and Vægtløs is a bridge to gap between the monumental emotional dread underlying the fact that all beauty will eventually die and the cathartic strength found in music.

“Ingenting kan forhindre at små struber skælver en forårsnat” is first. The opening tones are tense and depressive, and as the vocalist screams out, you have the image of someone pleading for life to change. A thicker Black Metal sound ensues thereafter, with the hopeless tones continuing. Bass guitar takes over after the halfway mark, followed by some very bleak sound, as the vocals intensify. “Først da vi bar din kiste, gik det op for mig, hvor meget tungt du skulle igennem, før du blev så let” has heavier and slower tones out of the gate, akin to the crushing weight of a recent diagnosis of something horrible. Anger replaces despair, and the song runs the full gamut of the five stages of grief, minus the final one, called acceptance.

“Her i vores hjerter bærer vi en ny verden” has punishing bass guitar notes in the opening. Low and slow, with each stroke, they pulverize the listener. The skies darken and become nearly impenetrable, and screams are all that you can hear. They are so loud and pervasive that nothing else even registers. “Tag dit knuste hjerte og lav det til kunst” closes the album. In some ways, it may finally be moving the listener to the final stage of grief, but it is a stage that will not be accepted willingly. Talk about bleak and hopeless, this album is full of both, along with a side of anger. Think about the subject matter mentioned in the album’s introduction, and that is exactly what you hear. Forget unicorns and rainbows, this album strips you down to reality, and it is something that you just can’t face.