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Hadal Sherpa — Mountains
(Bandcamp no#, 2026, CD / LP / DL)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2026-08-13

Mountains Cover art

With their fourth full-length release Mountains, the Finnish quartet returns to the heavy world-influenced rock that made their second album Void Weaver such a standout, a purely instrumental style that meets somewhere at the crossroads of the ripping heady power jam sound as it crosses from Morocco to Istanbul. The seven tracks at hand compile the band’s second (of three) posthumous releases following the July 2025 passing of the band’s leader, main composer, and multi-instrumentalist Vesa Pasanen, who played lead and rhythm guitars, bass, synthesizer, oud, saz, and percussion. He was joined by rhythm guitarist Ville Kainulainen, drummer and percussionist Ilja Juutilainen, and flutist / vocalist Pi Viana, plus a guest four-piece choir on the opening cut “Camel on Moon.” Speaking of which, no track here better exemplifies what the music on Mountains is all about, from the unusual barking intro leading to a mysterious vocalization, erupting into a powerful rock edifice that the whole band derives its energy from; yes, all those instruments like saz, oud, and more are here, but this is not world music, it’s a consummate rock fireball that drives hard and takes no prisoners. Worry not, as that energy level continues unabated with “Goat Gaze,” a masterful slab of similar intensity, this time orchestrated with what sounds like Mellotron until the rock rips everything wide open and we cross the Sahara once again. Two further tracks, “Dark Tides” and “Ormus,” underscore the aggressive stance of the first two tracks, the former using a smattering of electronic sounds and synths that hints of the Ozrics, but with a far more intense rhythm section; the latter like an odd-meter dance but still with the rock intensity dialed up to eleven. It’s not until the fifth track, “Return to Farum Azul,” that the listener will get some reprieve, a beautiful melodic intro in slower time, with distinct folk overtones as it slowly reaches higher and higher energy points with some majestic wordless vocals coming in just before the end, promptly leading to the title track, a piece which pretty much summarizes every idea that’s been presented thus far. Closer “Gurbet” takes us on another cross-desert journey, this time with flute carrying the piece’s main theme and solos, although at three-and-a-half minutes it’s far shorter than all of the other pieces before it.  All taken, Mountains sits easily the summit of Middle-East influenced hard rock.

Filed under: New releases, 2026 releases

Related artist(s): Hadal Sherpa

More info
http://hadalsherpa.bandcamp.com/album/mountains

 

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