Some bands evolve gradually. Others disappear into the woods and emerge transformed. Sweden’s Nephila have done the latter. The masked heavy rock collective are back with Huldra, their long-awaited second album, due out August 28 via Majestic Mountain Records. Inspired by the legend of the skogsrå, the mysterious forest spirit of Nordic folklore, Huldra is a darker, heavier, and more atmospheric step forward for the band, blending towering 70s-inspired riffs, haunting vocal harmonies, and cinematic storytelling into a captivating concept album. If you’re into Graveyard, Lucifer, Blood Ceremony, Heavy Feather and other classic heavy rockers liking a mystical edge, I think this one will be right in your groove!
Line-up
Josephine Asker – Vocals
Linn Edlund – Vocals
Jacob Hellenrud – Guitar
Anton Athley – Guitar
Charlie Andersson Vistbacka – Bass
Johan Larsson – Organ & Keyboards
Johan Lööf – Drums
Since forming in Arvika, Värmland in 2017, Nephila have carved out a distinctive identity rooted in the spirit of 1970s rock while refusing to be confined by nostalgia. Driven by twin lead vocalists and twin lead guitarists, the band has always tried to balance hypnotic grooves with soaring melodies, creating music that feels both familiar and strangely otherworldly. But from the very beginning, the band has been about more than music alone. Their mysterious masked appearance has become an integral part of the band’s identity, reinforcing the cinematic world that surrounds their music. Following the release of their first single in 2018, they quickly established themselves as one of Sweden’s most intriguing new rock acts. Their acclaimed debut album embraced the warmth and swagger of classic 70s rock while hinting at something darker beneath the surface, earning a nomination for Rock/Metal Album of the Year at Sweden’s prestigious P3 Guld Awards in 2022.
The road to Huldra has been anything but straightforward. The project took more than three years to complete, slowed by the aftermath of the pandemic, line-up changes, and the arrival of new members. Just as the record neared completion, another setback followed when the label originally scheduled to release the album declared bankruptcy in 2025, forcing Nephila to postpone its release once again. Undeterred, the band continued refining the record, recording the albumin late Summer 2024 between guitarist Jacob Hellenrud’s studio and a remote former orphanage in Lappnäs, a setting whose isolation and atmosphere seeped naturally into the music. The wait is finally over…
Huldra marks the beginning of a bold new chapter for the band – rather than simply expanding on the sound of their debut, they have shed their musical skin entirely. The result is a heavier, richer, and far more atmospheric album, one that surrounds its listeners with towering riffs, haunting vocal harmonies, and layers of texture that mirror the mystery and complexity of the Scandinavian forest itself. The groove remains unmistakably Nephila, but this time it is cloaked in shadow.
At the heart of Huldra lies an ambitious concept inspired by the legend of the skogsrå, the enigmatic forest spirit of Nordic folklore. Across the album, every song becomes another chapter in a world built around this captivating figure, who acts as both narrator and guide through an untamed landscape where beauty and danger exist side by side. From the whispering darkness beneath ancient trees to the liberating force found deep within nature, Huldra unfolds as a cinematic journey through myth, transformation, and humanity’s fragile relationship with the natural world.
Beneath its folklore however, there lies something far more contemporary. “It’s not just about mythology,” explain vocalists Josephine Asker and the band’s newest member, Linn Edlund. “It’s about what the forest spirit represents, our fascination with the unknown and the tension between being drawn to it and fearing it.” That symbolism runs throughout the album. Historically, women who challenged the expectations of their time, whether through independence, ambition, or simply refusing to conform, were often misunderstood, demonized, or feared. In Nephila’s interpretation, the skogsrå becomes a powerful reflection of that history – a woman who answers to no one, ruling her own world while society casts her as both temptation and threat. The album explores identity, freedom, power, and our instinctive longing for places beyond civilization, allowing ancient mythology to speak directly to modern anxieties.
*****
First up, appropriately, is Mother Of The Woods, the opening stanzas sounding something like English folk-rockers Fairport or Steeleye Span, before you get zapped with the wonderful retro-rock sound of the band wading in. Comparisons with Swedish compatriots Heavy Feather or Canada’s Blood Ceremony are entirely valid, and entirely merited. That comparison is even more stronger with In Her Hands – I’ve waxed lyrical before about the “School of Swedish Retro-Rock” that keeps on turning out such gems, paying homage to the 70’s yet with a completely fresh approach from another generation of such talented musicians. A meaty riff forms the backbone to this one and is enlivened by some great lead licks to boot.
The Hidden Folk is another guitar-led track, an altogether beefier approach than before s mentioned eralier. Again hugely redolent of Blood Ceremony, its a showcase for the twin leads of Jacob and Anton on guitar, then the twin vocals of Josephine and Linn. I’m also struck by the tightness of this seven-piece collective! The title of the next track, Ash The Bones, sounds suspiciously to me like a play on “Wishbone Ash”, and the track certainly opens like that musically! More superbly fluid twin guitars chasing each other, some satisfyingly swirling Hammond organ lines, chunky chords, throbbing bass-line and rhythm work, all in all this is a big fat slab of quality retro-rock.
Capercailles Hymn is relatively brief but features a lovely twin-lead (guitar) melody that flows beautifully, seamlessly, effortlessly, immersing me in its spell. It’s an instrumental but seems ro say so much, pack so much into its 2:45 minutes. I’m not sure whether guitarists Jacob and Anton are “survivors” from the earlier band (they look the same, but with masks on who can say!), but I get a real sense of maturity from these guys compared to what might have been described as their previous “innocent hippydom” on their debut. The title track Hundra underlines that, it then fairly belts along at a rollicking riff-led pace (see the video below), the organ work again providibng a nicely solid platform for the singers and guitarists to get to work. The interplay between the two singers is particularly powerful on this one, it brings to mind the Italian band Witchwood, more purveyors of classy heavy Prog / retro-rock.
After the last three tracks, Solar Eclipse takes us down several notches on the speed-stick, this starts as a slow ballad with country touches including slide guitar. It builds powerfully and you’re on tenterhooks waiting for the chords to come crashing in – which they do fleetingly before the slow, sweet lullaby returns. Musically, this is quite gentle, but the lyrics tell a different, darker tale….a belter of a track, complete with a scorching solo just where you know the song needs it – I always love that sense of anticipation!
The Living Grave is perhaps a microcosm of the whole album, interleafing warm grooves and crushing riffs around brooding dual vocal harmonies that centre on themes of dissociation and losing self-control. This is a strong favourite of the bands, echoing that blurring of psychological and mythological darkness where the boundaries between the human mind and the ancient forces of the forest begin to blur. More exquisite lead licks over the ever-present strong organ platform, rough-hewn chords, metronomic percussion, it all ensonced within this little beauty – from start to finish it reeks of Radar Love, the all-time classic from Golden Earring. This track has everything packed into , and it’s my absolute favourite from the song-set (and at 5:45 minutes, the longest).
It’s a hard act to follow on from the superlative The Living Grave but F.I.N.N. does its best, the heaviest track on the album. You realise we have a full-on heavy rock band on our hands here! It’s a real whopper, and without dissecting the lyrics it brings the album to a suitably tasty conclusion. Make no mistake, Huldra is Nephila’s most haunting, cinematic, emotionally profound and musically complete work to date, where classic heavy rock collides with Nordic folklore and where towering riffs meet haunting melodies – a cracker!
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