Hellvete - De Gek

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Customer reviews
Press release

5...according to our Brett on Thu 17 Dec, 2009.

The Sylvester Anfang II LP from earlier this year steamed into my top ten of the year (the only top ten that counts, remember) and on the first couple of listens I've found this Hellvete LP on Kraak to be a perfect companion piece to that deathly and ritualistic psychedelic drone masterwork, coming as it does from one of the key figures in that whole 'funeral folk' scene they've got cooked up (in a pot with twigs and bones) over Belgium way. De Gek uses a similar sonic palette to his parent band but there's a more considered, slightly less unhinged quality at work which means it complements it perfectly, like the other side of the same occult symbol adorned coin. Various points have me thinking of Amon Duul II (as usual with these guys), Alexander Tucker, Natural Snow Buildings, Vincent Price mincing about in Witchfinder General and god knows who else. I fucking love this actually. But I'm a bit scared that when I take it home it might end up inspiring me to burn my flat down and go back to nature.. Thems the risks I suppose.

Hellvete is one of the three members who founded the Flemish
Funeral Folk collective and a key figure of the satanadelic combo
Sylvester Anfang II. Similar to the mothership, his solo work spans
from folk-inspired guitar drones to minimalist keyboard esoterica.
the significant difference is that his solo songs are more composed
and less improvised. “De Gek” (meaning “The Fool”) is an epic
trip through the different zones of the Hellvete Empire: layered
guitar eruptions mix in with modern classical orchestration and
dark folk tales. Infuences such as Stephen R. Smith and Manuel
Göttsching result in abstract sound narrations, that might just as
well make one think of medieval folk or Rock In Opposition. On
this debut LP all the aspects of what has been baptized the “Belgian
dronevolkscene” culminate in an extraordinary exploration of
the Self: a sonic exorcization of old demons and a return to the
nostalgic peace of the country side. “De Gek” is a new interpretation
of the modern psychedelic idylle. The Rochefort 10 of the
new Belgian guitar folk tradition.

Tracklisting:

A1 - d’Helle
A2 - in den beginne
A3 - de gek
A4 - den duits
B1 - de onthoofde voogd
B2 - ‘k riep tot de oorsprong der dingen
B3 - fur Helena
B4 - vleermuisarmen