The Trondheim-based multi-instrumentalist and composer Tor-Helge Skei of Manes has repeatedly been hailed as one of the most ingenious musical artists, and his masterpieces have been referred to as some of the finest sonic achievements by fellow legends and leading media outlets alike. It has been hinted on more than one occasion that Skei will be unfurling a couple more of the greatest albums known to ears this year.
While Manes’ To Burn Is to Shine was already able to be mentioned by name, the time when the details of the other milestone can be revealed has only just arrived—Holissstik’s Chapter 1: This Endless Solitude will be released on August 14 via the venerable Season of Mist, and the superb video by outstanding director Gornoss for its genre-defying first single, “The Rhythm of Silence,” is now out.
Holissstik represent Skei’s most dizzyingly ambitious project yet. Over the years, Skei has repeatedly collaborated with the best, and This Endless Solitude features various members of the Manes family as well as other top-notch talents. These figures include the awarded household name within the metal community ex-Eluveitie and Cellar Darling’s Anna Murphy, Rage of Light’s divinely gifted Martyna Halas, and the lauded rising star from the Manes constellation Marita Hellem.
The press have branded Ms. Hellem as one of the most promising women in rock/metal; she possesses the enrapturing voice of a pop diva, worthy of conquering radio stations everywhere. As the nearly infallible label owner, festival organizer, and gatekeeper Ole A. Aune, who first recommended Hellem to Skei, has remarked to me, “Marita (…) deserves every compliment she can get.” Surely, any reasonable critic would apply the same words to Halas, who not only performs on This Endless Solitude but crafted some of its breathtaking poetry. Heavyweight filmmaker Torstein Parelius likewise enriches us with his lyrical superiority and packs a punch on bass. This conceptual guru amplifies the music’s cinematic nature.
In total, roughly 20 guests from across the world entered into the maximally entrancing universe of the enigmatic Holissstik with the mission of making history as part of the project’s miraculous debut. Although the sublime compositions were stamped from the start with Skei’s unmistakable authorial trademark, and hence suck us into the perilous headspace of a brilliant veteran, the cast of additional characters imbued the material with their individualistic flair. They proceeded, guided by their intuitions toward wildly uncompromising and unapologetic experimentation.
Within the coexistence of solitudes, the arresting spirit of boundless and egoless generosity prevailed; those involved unsparingly shared their pain, resilience, superhuman skill, and towering intellects. All contributions then, once in place, morphed, colored and unified by the gel of Skei’s gorgeous atmospheres, which are unmatched in their awe-inspiring nature.
Of course, Skei painstakingly applied his mastery in the arts of producing, engineering, and arranging to ensure an ideal and completely cohesive result; Skei routinely twists his knowledge as a tech wizard with a deep understanding of plugin development to his advantage, thereby opening up new audio possibilities. His background in game development, at certain points, becomes manifest in the immersive and high-stakes audial environments. Skei melds an almost punk DIY attitude with professional polish.
This Endless Solitude equates to an unfathomably nuanced recurring lucid dream, haunting to the utmost degree by virtue of its funereal darkness, juxtaposed with tempting yet uncanny luminescence. Such feels only natural, given that Skei pioneered what is likely the most unnerving genre of them all; he has accordingly been ranked as one of black metal’s best guitarists and remains a king of that agonizing movement in Manii, Syning, and Diabolus, Mecum Semperterne!. Yet, by the end of This Endless Solitude, Holissstik have converted pain into freedom. After all, to burn, and to sacrifice, is to shine; the overpowering waves of emotion from seemingly bottomless sources pummel us, ultimately proving transformative as healing flames. This epiphany of an album provides an intensely spiritual experience, though Holissstik shun dogma.
While listeners may perceive elements of trip hop, rap, jazz, electronica, avant-garde, metal, rock, ambient, etc., the treasures offered by Holissstik lie beyond comparison, except perhaps to classical music insofar as they each boast the noted ability to elevate and ennoble the soul. The almost mythological titanic force that is Holissstik stands worlds apart from all else and is wholly itself; its magic lies in its living, breathing totality. One might think that an outfit inviting constant flux would have a weak sense of identity, but being is becoming, and Holissstik’s absurdly strong and immediately recognizable essence can survive the storm of any adventure.
Whenever you step back into the waters of one of Holissstik’s titles, even after only a brief parting, the journey will render different rewards; each time you look back at Holissstik as a larger phenomenon, it will have sprouted fresh leaves, new carnivorous heads, and be swarming with previously unseen, fascinating pests. Holissstik’s future chapters are currently being written and rewritten to perfection; their promise to constantly surprise us with their innovation, rotating lineup of greats, and overall supremacy supply more than ample reason for all sane individuals to make a ritual of monitoring this collective’s suspiciously addictive activities.
Concerning the aforementioned video, Season of Mist, due to their discerning eye and judgement, connected Skei with French Renaissance man Gornoss, who then assumed the responsibility of visually translating “The Rhythm of Silence.” Skei recalls, “I sent him the lyrics for the song, plus the cover artwork [by Adrien Bousson].” He then explained to Gornoss, “(…) I wanted the video to be true to the cover artwork and the atmosphere it portrays (if possible, even the colors) … atmosphere is everything!” Skei also “gave him some initial ideas, some starting points to think about, a few sentences, guiding words and thoughts.” The film would ideally be slow and have to convey psychological horror, nightmarish vibes, introversion, and “emptiness, solitude, silence.” (On the topic of silence, we must note that Skei is a firm believer in its benefits.) Skei cautioned Gornoss, “(…) absolutely no ‘cool’ metal things …”
Holissstik’s mastermind further shares, “I originally envisioned a woman sitting at a table in a naked, dirty, or worn-down room, as the one depicted on the cover, looking out of the window, seeing life pass by, watching other people but feeling totally distanced from it, shut out, ignored, forgotten while the flowers in the vase withered away and died during the video …”
Skei wanted the vase to be shaped like an anatomical heart, as in Bousson’s painting. Thus, a vase, which is now in the permanent possession of the video’s heroine, Ksenia Aba, was specially made. The alignment of the shining rim of a transparent chair with one of the vessel’s arteries in order to resemble streaming liquid evidences Gornoss’ attention to detail. Along similar lines, the hanging lighting fixture resembles wilting flowers, playing into the established themes. This decoration influenced Gornoss’ decision to shoot at the stunning Le Moulin des Remparts in Saint-Mitre-les-Remparts.
In addition to communicating his vision, Skei made clear to Gornoss that he should exercise artistic freedom. He comments, “Since more or less everything related to this project is based on collaborations, and people doing their own, personal things, their own interpretations and expressions, I told him to do the same … ‘What would you do? What do you think would be a perfect video?’” Gornoss indeed delivered the perfect video for the task.
Upon experiencing the otherworldly final product, Skei was not only extremely pleased but “totally surprised”; Gornoss managed to steer completely clear of those stale moves that Skei and many of us dread seeing but inevitably must if we wish to explore new releases. Gornoss’ suffocatingly intimate offering, which reflects an elevated aesthetic sensibility, is “very atmospheric … arty … a bit creepy … and eye-catching!” Skei continues, “The result is amazing! Can’t wait to see how other people react to it.” Both Skei and I can attest that the impression the video initially makes never fades. Skei confirms his satisfaction with the fact that, while Gornoss took his thoughts as inspiration, the director, a true original, ultimately and, again, as desired, “did his own thing.”
Skei rightly emphasizes the enormous amount of care that Gornoss channeled into “The Rhythm of Silence”; in various ways that keep unfolding, Gornoss did a fantastic job of honoring and interpreting the content of the lyrics, as with those exceptionally anxiety-inducing veins/vines/cracks, the ceiling of tears, and the sense of floating, intertwining, brittleness, unraveling, longing, etc.
The harsh examination of past, present, and future selves in the mirror ties into the oppressive feeling of wearing a mask and the fading of youth that is similarly present within the text. Gornoss, fortunately, picked up upon the song’s cleansing components, even if they bring an ocean of agony and uncertainty. In the shower, Gornoss affords viewers a glimpse of Aba’s back tattoo, displaying the following noble message from Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead (1943), as clarified by Season of Mist:
“The thing is not high if one can reach it
It is not great if one can reason about it
It is not deep if one can see its bottom.”
Aba beautifully brought something of herself to the table by way of what might be called stellar acting, or an incredibly refreshing display of nuanced and organic human emotion. As a result, Aba and Gornoss’ collaboration amounts to something infinitely more moving and authentic than what we are accustomed to witnessing these days; while special effects are masterfully incorporated, this cinematic wonder instills more fear in its minimalism than works with much bigger teams behind them, attempting to pull off all sorts of blockbuster-type shenanigans. Having heard the song roughly a million times in advance of the video, I can say that the latter even expanded my understanding of the former.
Gornoss kindly, and to our great delight, stuns us with his own eloquent reflections, illuminating the logic behind his unbelievably wise creative choices. The philosopher-director writes:
“When I was first introduced to the project, there were already a few very strong elements on the table: a moodboard, the idea of a location that could evoke confinement—something close to a prison, for example—and the very symbolic image of a heart-shaped vase with roses inside. From there, I listened to the track, read the lyrics, and moved quite instinctively into writing the storyboard.
“I naturally wanted to keep the symbolism of the heart-shaped vase and the flowers, because it connected very well with the lyrics and with the idea of love as something fragile, organic, and almost wounded. But I also wanted to bring a more personal touch to it. As for the location, however, I went in almost the opposite direction from what might have been expected. Rather than showing confinement through a dark or prison-like space, I felt that a luxurious, radiant, light-filled house—but one that was desperately empty—could create an even stronger sense of absence.
“What interested me was making silence feel not like a simple void, but like a presence. Something that weighs on the character, isolates her, makes every room feel too large, every light almost too cold, every space too quiet. So I tried to use several tools to convey that feeling: camera angles, the rhythm of the shots, certain visual effects, but also a real desire to push the camera and try things visually. There is always a risk in doing that, but I work a lot on instinct, and I was convinced that this approach could work.
I also want to acknowledge the actress’s performance, because she carries so much of the video, often in very restrained moments. And of course, I’m very grateful for the trust I was given to direct this video—from Season of Mist, from Michael (Berberian), and Will (Yarbrough), but also, and especially, from Skei. I understood very clearly that this song had a particular importance for him, and I could feel that through the lyrics, especially as a musician myself. I hope the approach I chose will resonate with as many people as possible.”
Mr. Will Yarbrough, whom I consider to be the very best at what he does, has truly demonstrated tireless resolve in helping Holissstik realize their grandiose ambitions. As Gornoss points out, much gratitude is also owed to the revered Mr. Berberian, a longtime fan of Skei’s work. He founded Season of Mist in 1996 and has become the prime example of an uncompromising label owner. Sophistication and a thoroughly metal attitude are combined in his character. Without the pair, “The Rhythm of Silence” wouldn’t have that visual component, allowing for the desirable feeling of “Total Art.”
In summarizing events, Skei hits the nail on the head, “I think it’s cool that everything … the music, the lyrics, the cover, the video, is completely unguided, very personal and ‘from the hearts’ of all the contributors … but it still fits together like a glove, like it was planned from the beginning … We obviously found something, a nerve, a feeling, a mood, that everybody could recognize and connect with, and ‘feel’ inside themselves …”
Needless to say, “The Rhythm of Silence,” as a piece of music, is a blissfully and punishingly mesmerizing masterwork in its own right—one that should leave audiences speechless. The versatile songstresses Martyna Halas, with her femme fatale energy, and Marita Hellem, with her ethereal allure, as both referenced above, prove yet again here that they should be stars; what Martyna gave to the opus was quite unexpected and even uniquely yet subtly exotic. Verily, she could charm a snake, both on the page and off. The equally fabulous multilingual rapper Mr. “K-Rip,” or Pierre Ripka, lends his sorcery to this track in French; his cadence is irreproachable. Although he laments that people only grant recognition to the dead, let’s please celebrate the Holissstik deities while they are still among us.
Therefore, we must highlight that “The Rhythm of Silence” is moreover graced by Område’s Christophe Denhez on guitars, Manes’ Eivind Fjøseide on guitars, ex-Atrox’s Tor-Arne Helgesen on drums, and Kristoffer Oustad on synth. Besides those already named, This Endless Solitude showcases the following magnificent creators: The Third and the Mortal’s Rune Hoemsnes, Drontheim’s Tom Christian Engelsøy, Atrox’s Rune Folgerø, Nik Košar, Gabriel Trentini, Stig Waltoft, Trond Johansen, and paritta monks. Finally, Knut V. Prytz, formerly of Necrophagia and Wurdulak, mastered This Endless Solitude, and the cult favorite NecrosHorns handled all promotional photography.
Readers are hereby commanded to follow Holissstik on Facebook, Instagram, Discord, Bandcamp, and their website for updates. Place your pre-orders here.
Also, make sure to support Season of Mist on Facebook, Instagram, X, and YouTube—Send them your thanks for bringing listeners the best.
Image courtesy of NecrosHorns and Season of Mist
