Hadal Sherpa - S/T

Self-released

Hadal Sherpa is a really cool instrumental ethnic prog/psych rock band from Southern Finland and this is their first album. I've seen the band live a couple of years ago with supporting Hidria Spacefolk and noticed their potential already then. The first pressing of this digipack CD released in June 2017 sold-out rather quickly but luckily there is a second pressing with slightly altered art work that I got.

The album includes eight long tracks, all between 7:20 and 9:30 in length. Hadal Sherpa has a rather light, folky sound compared to some other similar artists. They are more progressive and less danceable than Hidria Spacefolk, more organic and less electronic than Ozric Tentacles. I can also sense some Kingston Wall vibes, or maybe more like 70s airy, jazzy prog rock like Caravan or Camel or some of the Finnish folk/prog masters like Piirpauke. The great melodies have lots of Eastern/Oriental/Balcan/North-African sounding themes and the use of flutes etc. and odd time signatures add the ethnic mood. At times the band rock more steady in space rock mode too which is great. Never do they get very heavy, though, but some tracks are more intense. As a matter of fact they have a rather unique style after all, although you can hear some of their influences for sure. The tracks are well-structured and interesting and the listener is easily transported into some better, more beautiful and love-filled place. There are also bits of synthesizer in there from time to time to make things more interesting, but they could maybe use that more to get spacier. Unless they don't want to... The playing is great throughout and sound quality excellent too, so in summary I must say that this is one of the best modern Finnish prog bands at the moment. Listen for yourself and please remember that you can see the band live this Saturday in Helsinki at Lepakkomies with Albinö Rhino, Warp Transmission and Laserdrift along with Yours Truly on decks!

www.facebook.com/HadalSherpa