Written By Chris Norris
Norwegian multi-instrumentalist and producer Tor-Helge Skei is opening another door into the dark.
Best known as the driving force behind Trondheim experimentalists Manes, Skei launches his latest project, HOLISSSTIK, with Chapter I: This Endless Solitude, arriving August 14 through Season of Mist.
At its center, HOLISSSTIK is Skei’s creation. He serves as the project’s sole permanent member, composer and creative architect, building its musical foundation himself before opening each piece to a revolving cast of collaborators.
The eight-track, 46-minute album marks the beginning of a planned trilogy and pushes Skei beyond the boundaries of any single project or genre. Rooted in dark electronic music, This Endless Solitude pulls from ambient, trip hop, avant-garde, rock, metal, jazz and pop while surrounding Skei with a sprawling international cast of collaborators.
For Skei, that collaborative structure isn’t merely decoration. It’s the foundation of HOLISSSTIK.
“The inspiration for Holissstik comes from the Greek word Hólos, which is the root for the English word ‘whole’,” Skei explains. “Collaboration is the heart and soul of this project. The idea is that each part cannot exist or be understood when separated from the whole. The sum is greater than its parts.”
HOLISSSTIK Turns Solitude Into Collaboration
The project began taking shape in 2024, when Skei started digging through an extensive archive of musical sketches, including material dating back more than a decade.
Some pieces were rebuilt from those older ideas while others were created from scratch. Eventually, Skei narrowed the material to eight largely instrumental compositions incorporating samples and fragments of older vocals.
Then he deliberately surrendered some control.
Rather than dictating exactly what each song needed, Skei invited roughly 20 musicians to contribute vocals, lyrics and instrumentation with considerable creative freedom.
“After sketching these songs, I asked my collaborators to do their own thing with them,” Skei says. “The only hint that I gave was the music would use minor chords, be melancholic and introspective and that the lyrics would be concerned with the darker side of life and death. But I gave them no rules, no limitations or restrictions.”
As those contributions arrived, Skei returned to the material and began constructing them into the finished album.
“As the collaborators submitted their contributions, I worked on shaping This Endless Solitude into a coherent whole,” he says. “It was quite an intense process in itself. But the end result more than made up for the doubts that surfaced.”
Familiar Voices Enter HOLISSSTIK’s World
The guest list reaches throughout Skei’s musical history while introducing several new collaborators.
Former Eluveitie member and Cellar Darling vocalist Anna Murphy, who also works with Skei in Lethe, appears on “Obsession Six.”
Martyna Halas of Rage of Light contributes vocals and lyrics across four tracks, while Marita Hellem appears on “The Rhythm of Silence” and the title track.
Other contributors include Christophe Denhez, Eivind Fjøseide, Gabriel Trentini, Kristoffer Oustad, Tor-Arne Helgesen, Nik Košar, Pierre Ripka, Rune Folgerø, Rune Hoemsnes, Stig Waltoft, Tom Engelsøy, Torstein Parelius, Trond Johansen and Paritta monks, whose chanting appears on “Would You Take This Heart.”
The record is primarily performed in English but also incorporates Pali, French, Polish and Italian.
For listeners familiar with Skei’s history, HOLISSSTIK represents another sharp turn in a career largely defined by refusing to stay put.
Skei emerged from Trondheim’s black metal underground through Manes, before the band radically expanded its sound with 2003’s Vilosophe. His subsequent work has stretched across projects including Lethe, Høstsol, Atrox, Manii, Syning and Kkoagulaa.
With HOLISSSTIK, collaboration itself becomes the architecture.
Skei recorded, produced and mixed Chapter I: This Endless Solitude, with mastering handled by Knut V. Prytz. All songwriting and arrangements are credited to Skei.
Purchase HOLISSSTIK – CHAPTER 1: THIS ENDLESS SOLITUDE Via Season of Mist
Cover artwork was created by Adrien Bousson.
Chapter I: This Endless Solitude Tracklist
1. The Rhythm of Silence
2. My Salvation
3. Projections
4. Obsession Six
5. Reoccurring Dreams
6. Would You Take This Heart
7. Behind Me
8. This Endless Solitude
Chapter I: This Endless Solitude arrives August 14, 2026 through Season of Mist.
The album will be available digitally and on CD digipak with alternative cover, black 12-inch vinyl, and clear, green and purple marbled 12-inch vinyl.
And because this is only Chapter I, the solitude isn’t ending here.
HOLISSSTIK has two more chapters waiting beyond the dark.
Follow Holissstik Online:
About the Author
Chris Norris is the voice behind Metal Lair’s global metal coverage, World Metal Weekly. From funeral doom in the north to thrash born in the streets. Known for spotlighting bands before algorithms notice them and for writing with the precision of a scalpel… or a well-sharpened guitar pick. Vinyl collector. Night-shift journalist. Believes heavy music has no borders.
Read More From This Author:
Metal Came to Him: The Scepter Bring a Full Concert Inside an Ottawa Hospital for Patient Tim Berry
World Metal Weekly India Edition
Green Carnation Part III: The Messiah Complex Interview
Interview With The Ghoulstars: Horror Punk, VHS Culture & The Dark Overlords of the Universe
No algorithms. No fluff. No watered-down corporate metal coverage.
Subscribe to Metal Lair and get weekly underground features, Seven Deadly Songs, Deep Cuts, interviews, and original metal journalism sent directly to your inbox.
Join the patrons of Metal Lair
MetalLair.net is a metal zine muttering to itself about seo and blastbeats at 3 AM powered by caffeine, riffs, a severe lack of sleep, and a dog wondering why the human is still awake.
Sometimes it’s Kevin passing out mid Seven Deadly Songs.
Sometimes it’s digging up forgotten records no one else is talking about.
Always, it’s built for people who actually live this music.
If that sounds like you, you’re already one of us.
Supporting Metal Lair means keeping it independent, loud, and real with no corporate filters, no watered-down takes. If you want to help keep it alive…
Become a patron of Metal Lair.