AN NCS PREMIERE: PERIHELION — “VÉG SE HOZZA EL”

One good thing sometimes leads to another good thing. About two weeks ago I was excited to discover a music video for a track from a forthcoming album (Zeng) by the Hungarian band Perihelion. I wrote about the song (“Égrengető”) here, and now we find ourselves in the happy position of being able to bring you the premiere of another song from the same album, a track named “Vég se hozza el” (Hungarian for “Even the end will not bring relief”).

While “Égrengető” has its heavy moments, particularly as it builds toward the climax, much of its magic lies in the ethereal guitar melody and the experience of listening to Gyula Vasvári send his voice arcing into the sky. “Vég se hozza el” combines similar ingredients, but in different proportions. It starts in a blaze, takes a breath, and then pours out its intensity and passion in a stream of gleaming black water.

Which is a way of saying that there is an undercurrent of anguish and heartache in the music. The heaviness comes sooner, and as it cascades and flows to its own climax, it fills your head with celestial intensity, vistas of meteors in the night sky, stirring and mystical.

As someone who does not speak Hungarian, I also have to say how glad I am that Vasvári sings in Hungarian. I hear the song (as most of you will) in a way that he and his fellow Hungarians will not be able to hear it — without being distracted by the meaning of the words (powerful though they may be), focusing only on the rhythms of his vowels and consonants and the passion in the sound. But I suspect even Hungarian speakers will be carried away by this song — it sends its tendrils into your head, intertwining with your emotions, and pulling you back to it, like a gravity well.

Of course I’m speaking for myself. I do think it’s a remarkable piece of music, a very moving and memorable one, and the kind of song that I suspect will just as easily kindle a flame in my imagination ten years from now as it does today. Hope it has a similar effect on you.

Zeng will be released by Apathia Records on October 19. The album can be ordered on CD, along with related merch HERE, and digital pre-orders are available at the Bandcamp link below. The wonderful cover art is by Costin Chioreanu (Twilight13 Media).

https://apathiarecords.bandcamp.com/album/zeng
http://www.apathiarecords.com/
https://www.facebook.com/apathiarecords

https://www.facebook.com/perihelionofficial