Sweden's VANHELGA will release their sophomore full-length album, Längtan, in Europe on April 28th in CD format on the Art Of Propaganda label, and in vinyl format on Carnal Records on a date as yet to be confirmed. A full album stream is available below.

Taking longing and death as its theme, Längtan explores the idea that death is not an ending, but the beginning of a life free from all the strictures imposed on us by society, and that death should be something to be longed for, rather than feared. Artwork for Längtan is by the Spanish artist Juanjo Castellano.

Tracklisting:

'Svartsint ömhet'

'Där evigheten inväntar mig'

'Evig förändring'

'Med mina andetag'

'Joyless'

'Låt snön falla'

'Kärleksförklaring'

'Vansinnesvardag'

'Narkotisk uppgivenhet'

'Eternal night'

'Förbarma'

'Exploderande känslostorm'

Album stream:

'Där Evigheten Inväntar Mig' video:

Vanhelga was formed in Linköping, Sweden in 2001 by J. Ottosson, aka 145188 (ex-LIFELOVER (live session musician), ex-SKOGSTRON), who, unable to create the kind of music he really wanted to, found a group of like-minded musicians and together they set about bringing their vision to life. Aside from Ottosson on Bass, Guitars and Vocals, Vanhelga's lineup consists of J. Gabrielson (ESKAPI, ex-Lifelover) on Vocals, J. Ejnarsson (TAKETH) and Wadström (ex-Skogstron) on guitars and D. Franzén on drums.

Whilst it would be easy to classify Vanhelga as a black metal band, in reality that would be too restrictive a definition. It's true that lyrically the band explores the darker side of humanity, a subject much loved by the genre, indeed, the band's name itself means "Profane", but within Vanhelga's cold and sinister music can be found distinctive melodies and melancholic moments that lull you into a false sense of security and drag you into a dark reality.

Tracks from all of Vanhelga's releases can be heard below:

VANHELGA by VANHELGA (Official)