From the cursed grey skies of London emerges Helzver, the solo black metal manifestation of Georgi Georgiev, and his debut full-length offering, ‘Kvlt is Still Alive’. Officially released on 13th July 2025 via Nocturnal Howl Records, this album is a potent declaration that the raw, unyielding spirit of black metal is alive and seething.
Black metal can often be a daunting realm to navigate, but Helzver takes things to another level, establishing a cataclysmic soundscape. Drawing deeply from the well of second-wave Norwegian black metal, Georgi crafts a sound that is both familiar and fiercely individual. His ‘Bulgarian blood’ courses through the tracks, infusing them with a fury that fuses raw aggression with ritualistic atmosphere and spiritual defiance.
The album, a collection of ten hymns of wrath, fire, and heresy, opens with the immediate assault of ‘Black Winds Rise’. It’s a guitar-heavy melee, spiked by a fierce cry and a thunderous onslaught of drums that instantly engulfs the listener. Georgi's vocals, etched with anguished moments, cry out, delivering chilling lines like, “A thousand years of flame and dust I reign in silence, ash, and rust.”
As the album progresses, Helzver continues to paint apocalyptic visions with ease and an unwavering style. The title track, ‘Kvlt is Still Alive’, is a breakneck, unrelenting piece that embodies the genre’s relentless drive, while, in stark contrast, ‘Feed My Demons’ showcases a more tempered, yet equally potent, side of Helzver’s sound, with driven melodies that break like crashing waves.
Tracks such as ‘Ashes of the Creed’ and ‘The God Unborn’ exude a defiant, unchained spirit, resonating with untamed energy and dark anthemics. While the album culminates with ‘The King We Dare Not Name’, a closing shot of jagged, adrenaline-filled sounds. It builds to a simmering instrumental divide before a final, rhythmic cry, where Georgi delivers his lines with chilling conviction, “Hail to the silence, hail to the flame, hail to the king we dare not name.”
‘Kvlt is Still Alive’ is a powerful and unrelenting debut, balancing cold minimalism with haunting melodies and bone-rattling riffs. Helzver has delivered an album that is unequivocally black metal, forged in solitude and burning with an unholy fire. It’s a compelling listen for any fan of the genre, proving that the darkest flames often burn from within.
You can stream the album now on Spotify, and for more, find Helzver today on Instagram and Bandcamp.
