Hellsingland Underground

Hailing from Sweden’s remote northern woodlands, Hellsingland Underground formed as a hard-rock outfit steeped in the gritty, organic sound of Neil Young, AC/DC, and early-era Guns N’ Roses. Their self-titled debut arrived in 2008 to widespread critical praise, while the sophomore set Madness and Grace climbed into the Swedish Top Ten two years later.

Singer-songwriter Charlie Granberg, raised in the modest community of Ljusdal within Hälsingland county, launched the group. At eighteen he relocated to Stockholm intent on building a rock career, remaining there several years until his return home in 2006. During that capital-city stretch he befriended guitarist Mats Olsson and drummer Patrik Jansson, both longtime members of Maryslim. After nearly a decade with that act, the pair parted ways to join Granberg, who had accumulated a catalog of original material and sought collaborators. By roughly 2006 the lineup coalesced around second guitarist Peter Henriksson, keyboardist Mathias Stenson, and bassist Martin Karlsson. Operating under their newly founded Killed by Records imprint, the band issued its first album in 2008; the record earned strong reviews and yielded the singles “Slipping Through the Hands of Time” and “Northern Country Boy.”

The follow-up, Madness & Grace, proved a major commercial hit, peaking at number six on the Swedish albums chart. After the 2012 release of Evil Will Prevail, internal friction with management halted touring and bookings, while contractual conflicts stalled progress. Keyboardist Stenson had already departed, replaced by Henning Winnberg, yet the group pressed ahead with sessions for a purported concept album, Understanding Gravity. Early 2015 studio work was abandoned; instead the musicians leased a sixteenth-century castle in Sörmland to finish recording. Midway through those sessions Winnberg exited, and Thomas Petterson stepped in. Following numerous setbacks, Understanding Gravity appeared in spring 2016. Prior to the next album, Olsson departed and Jerry Ask assumed guitar duties. The resulting fifth LP, A Hundred Years Is Nothing, surfaced in August 2019.