Alenah

We all know about the role that Sweden has played in shaping metal as a genre for many years now, from the first rumblings of the Swedish death metal scene to their contribution to the hardcore scene in recent years, so when Victor from Swedish band Alenah got in touch, I knew I had to check them out.

Alenah is made up of Isac Elingbo on vocals, Erik Winberg and Oscar Salman Prim on guitars, Victor Johannessonon on bass and Johan Glimmersten on drums. The band started properly in eary 2010 after releasing a couple of demos to help them find their sound.

Eventually the guys found that sound, which is heavily influenced by 90's screamo, but in Swedish.

These guy have been very productive since they formed, having released an EP and a single that you can find on their bandcamp page.

Their new release is a digital only single called - Mitt Waterloo, which was released in April of this year.

The title song, Mitt Waterloo, starts off with an introspective build up before Alenah unleashes their mash up of 90s screamo and hardcore. The instrumentation is melodic and almost euphoric and with the vicious Swedish vocals, the song sounds very abrasive and urgent. About 3 minutes in, the music changes pace and slows down, interjected by the odd anguished scream from vocalist Isaac. Alenah show a good use of atmospherics to make the track more foreboding and gives you a sense that Alenah have more in their locker.

Their second track, Ett Dödsdatum Satt, starts with a more instant smash to the head. The song instantly has more energy and shows a more urgent side to the band. It highlights the bands love of chaotic hardcore, and angular riffs, all pinned down by a very capable rhythm section.

Their earlier release, Sotiga Liljor I Seine, is a five track EP that was released in May 2010.

First track,  Dödfödd, is a mid paced track, but it still holds a lot of urgency thanks to the vocals. Alenah show more good variation, with the slower paced parts moving into faster sections. The angular riffs are present, which gives the sense that there is a nod to Refused and Botch in there, and it all ends very abruptly with some brief feedback. It leads straight into second track, Monstret. This song includes more galloping drumming than before, this moves into a sampled mid section before the band slows down again, to almost doomy proportions, reminiscent of bands like Strife and Norwegian newcomers Kollwitz. Third track Vindspel's instrumentation, especially the guitars provide more of a poppy tone,
before leaping back into their angular hardcore. The melodic riffs prove a nice touch and add something to the abrasive vocals to make the listener pay attention. Fourth track, Smittan, is more chaotic and is one of the bands more chaotic songs. The pace changes are again used to good effect to before moving straight into track five, Råttorna, which is the last track on the EP. Again, Alenah employs lots of different elements into the music,
with more melodic guitar parts. The song is built around the same riff which, towards the end of the track melds into feedback and along with the samples, melts away leaving the reassurance of silence and the feeling that you have survived the chaos.

Overall ,these to releases ares a clue to the direction in which Swedish, and Scandinavian bands are taking hardcore. It's a very different beast to that of our US cousins, and is a welcome sign of things to come.

If you want here more from Alenah, the songs from the new single and EP are available to stream and download via bandcamp at http://alenah.bandcamp.com/. I have included them below as well.





Also if you want to stay in touch with what Alenah are doing, visit their Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/alenahswe and they are even on Spotify at the following link http://open.spotify.com/alrenah.