Sijjin – Helljjin Combat

vote
7.5

• Band:
  Sijjin
• Duration: 00:48:49
• Available from: 25/04/2025
• Label:

• Sepulchral Voice

Streaming not yet available

With “Helljjin Combat”, the Sijjin take a significant step forward in their artistic path, confirming the promises of the debut and at the same time refining their proposal. Since its first jokes, the second album of the Basque-German band stands out in fact for a greater structural complexity, while keeping that rough and spirited vein intact that had characterized the first full-length. In short, the Thrash-death-death debut, now gives way to a more elaborate formula, with medium-long compositions that develop in a less instinctive and more reasoned way.
If on “Sumerian Promises” the frontal attack was the keystone of the sound, here the Sijjin show that they want to deepen their musical language a little, resorting to more riffs for trace and less linear development. Moreover, the bassist/singer Malte Gericke, a former Necros Christos leader, brings with him a legacy made of dark and complex plots, which however find a more accessible shape than the ritualistic marathons of his old band. The owned component and first soft angels that had dominated the debut album is still well present, however it is now located in a more stratified context, with changes of time and variations that enrich the listening experience.
The official bio attached to the album cites first megadeth and Slayer among the reference points of the new direction of the Sijjin, and the comparison did not live in the air: while remaining firmly anchored to a thrash-death without large frills, pieces such as “Fear not the torventor”, “Death Opens the Grave” or “Religious Insanity Denies Slavery” is not long in showing a more instrumental approach to show Extended, in which particularly inspired guitars are allowed to go to articulated sections that can remember, for atmospheres and development, a classic like “Hell Awaits”. The direct quotations are few, but the spirit of a certain 80s thrash hovers on different passages of the work, helping to break the linearity of the riffing and to make the tracklist more dynamic.
In any case, it is a targeted and never excessive aging: compared to the debut, there is so greater attention to the construction of an atmosphere that does not end in the mere frontal impact, but the Sijjin even in this new guise do not completely lose their accepted essence, continuing to rely on the rough vocal lines of Gericke and a “live in the studio” production that once again enhances the traditionalist component. and primitive of the sound.
If “Sumerian Promises” had been an effective album but perhaps a little too derivative and predictable at times, “Helljin Combat” therefore represents a convincing and necessary evolution: the Sijjin do not revolutionize their style, but enrich it at the right point through a more sought after songwriting. Consequently, the experience gains a lot in longevity, putting ourselves in front of several pieces that grow listening after listening and, in general, to a new stylistic direction that can open the doors to further interesting developments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebhvxpjyzjg