01. Sunday Morning, The 13th
02. Chimera
03. Did I Say Why I Hate You?
04. Today
05. We've Turned Into Saints
06. Ashamed
07. The Claim Of Integrity
08. Monster
09. The Day Of The Lord
Comment:
3rd album of this awesome spanish band of high-class symphonic Black/ Death!! Lovers of bands like ARCTURUS, COVENANT, EMPEROR and even DEATH & DISSECTION will find this a must have!! Top quality design, production and musicianship!!
To describe perfectly the music of this Spanish band is difficult. The first things that came to my mind while listening to the album were ideas of Opeth composing songs to young Venom who would playing them tight, and some vibes I get from listening to Borknagar. And never have I heard a band before that makes me think of Finland’s Elenium. As if a black metal band wanted to sound everything else but not black metal. The result is an epic album of experimental music switching from thrash to black and death metal. Hell, even some stoner and death ‘n’ roll is waiting for the listener in the end.
The album begins with an intro which is followed by one of the catchiest tracks of the album, “Chimera”. After that you’re on a journey that will last through the album. Truly a journey, as the closing track is musically far away from the first track, yet clearly a song performed by the same band. All tracks are equally good and dynamic enough to make you feel like having another spin.
Sound wise the production could be slightly better, but doesn’t really bother after a couple of minutes. Especially when you start hearing where most of the effort has been put to, apart from playing itself; the album is full of small hooks that pop up when you least expect it. Also, extra points for having interesting song titles like “Did I Say Why I Hate You?” and “Sunday Morning, the 13th”.
This was a very much awaited album from Spanish band The Heretic after their amazing previous release, 'Chemistry for the soul'. These guys are one of the lesser known gems of the European metal scene and I'm sure a lot of people would love this album upon it's discovery.
After a highly dramatic 2 minute distorted ambient intro in the form of 'Sunday morning: The 13th', 'Chimera' brings the whole band into action, and a very quirky, progressive mix of blackened melodic thrash begins to unfold. Put together Mayhem, Arcturus, The Haunted, Carnal Forge, Fear My Thoughts and Textures into a huge blender and then you get The Heretic, plus I'm sure that the start of 'Did I say why I hate you?' is an Emperor riff!
At times showing off some very impressive and essential influences, The Heretic could well be a few people's new favourite band. Great riffs throughout, all given a bit of a bouncy, jazzy slant.
Highly impressive work, please investigate this band!
Now this is something refreshing, when I read that The Heretic played symphonic Black Metal something entirely different came to mind. Yes sure, they have the melodic guitars and keyboards, the Black torture voice, but toned-down, almost to the point of the music presenting itself as stoner rock. So let's call it mid-tempo, symphonic, black-influenced metal.
This not underground stuff, nor Dimmu Borgir type Black Metal, I would go as far as to say to borders on Black Rock. The guitars stay very progressive throughout the album and they experiment with a lot of ideas you don't usually find in traditional Black Metal, obscure melody lines, various time-signature changes, and like I mentioned that stoner rock keyboard runs and fills. And mixed with all of this you would suddenly be thrown into a doom riff and almost immediately back into the general 'feel-good' atmosphere. The drums are a bit far back in the mix to really comment much on, apart from it always running at a nice groove. A nice change to this is the track "Did I say why I hate you?", where they revert back to the more typical blast beats, more heavier sound but still staying very progressive.
Now to me Black Metal always presented a dark, mysterious, vicious, atmospheric combination of emotion, either by presenting some or all of the mentioned traits. The Heretic is not all that, in some songs yes and others not even a bit. "Gospel Songs In E Minor" is a strange album to get used to because it draws from so many different aspects of heavy music, but at the same time making it a very unique record.
Ya tenía ganas de escuchar el que supone el tercer álbum de la banda albaceteña, y tras las primeras escuchas he entendido por qué le tenía tantas ganas al disco. Tras un pequeño retraso sufrido en el lanzamiento del disco, previsto para octubre del 2005, ya está disponible en las tiendas.
La banda se formó en 1995 bajo el nombre de Execror, tocando thrash/death y versionando a los ídolos de la banda en esos momentos. Pero no fue hasta 1997 cuando la banda pasó a llamarse The Heretic, impulsada por las incorporaciones de Nexusseis (Javier Fernández, teclados) y Alasthor (Javier Moya, bajo), año en el que se estrenaron con un primer MCD “The Book Of Fate” y donde la incorporación de los teclados les acercó al black metal melódico de la época. Al año siguiente tras una serie de cambios en la formación, entraron a grabar el que sería su primer disco “Fallen From Heaven” editado por Iberian Moon Records en 1999, que proporcionó a la banda una gran difusión en los medios y las mejores críticas del metal extremo nacional ese año. Tras nuevos cambios de formación en el 2002, la banda editó “Chemistry For The Soul”, que suponía otro paso de madurez musical de nuevo a través de Iberian Moon Records, pero por motivos económicos del sello, el disco se quedó sin la distribución y promoción que merecía el trabajo. Afortunadamente para la banda, Xtreem Music re-editó este excelente trabajo en el 2004, proporcionando al disco la difusión que merecía además de un contrato para sus próximos tres trabajos. Por fin en el 2005, la banda ha visto como su nuevo lanzamiento “Gospel Songs In E Minor”, ha contado con el esfuerzo y garantía de un sello potente como Xtreem Music, capaz de otorgar al disco una adecuada distribución y promoción a nivel internacional, a la altura de esta magnífica banda.
Seguramente áun mucha gente sigue con sus pre-juicios hacia el metal nacional, pero eso es porque todavía no han escuchado bandas como The Heretic, Continuo Renacer, Asgaroth etc capaces de sorprender, innovar y experimentar hasta límites insospechados músicalmente. “Gospel Songs In E Minor” es toda una obra maestra, desde su magnífica portada hasta el último acorde de los 9 temas que componen el disco con casi 45 minutos de duración. Fantástica producción, y sin duda el álbum que consagrará a la banda a nivel internacional por el grado de madurez y sobriedad musical.
La banda deja un tanto la extrema experimentación de su anterior disco para volver a una línea más clásica y con la carga épica de su primer disco “Fallen From Heaven”, pero sin perder un ápice de originalidad y de sonido más que peculiar. The Heretic forman una fenomenal mezcla de estilos Black, Death, Thrash todos ellos acompañados de matices y toques progresivos, para dar un resultado final de un black metal sinfónico de muchos quilates. Compararles con una sola banda, se me hace harto difícil, podríamos decir que es una mezcla de Arcturus, Asgaroth, In the Woods, Emperor, Sodom etc Música no fácilmente asimilable, para amantes del tecnicismo, de lo experimental y sin miedo a probar nuevas sensaciones.
El disco empieza con una intro con sonidos futuristas y atmosféricos, para dar paso al que para mí es el mejor tema del disco, “Chimera”. Empieza con unos riffs progresivos, acompañados de unos teclados atmosféricos, sigue con unos riffs ultra thrashers con una fantástica voz de Rhülk, a caballo del mejor thrash alemán y el black metal, con un pasaje melódico con voces limpias a mediado del tema, donde la banda ya ha demostrado en escasos minutos su potencial en la perfecta fusión de estilos que componen su música. Ritmos agresivos, pasajes instrumentales, variedad de teclados y de voces (guturales con diferentes matices y voces limpias), cambios de ritmo, que en tan sólo 5 minutos, que te dejan helado. El tercer tema del disco, “Did I Say Why I Hate You” empieza con unos ritmos puramente emperianos, y con la voz más agresiva del cantante, teclados experimentales nada habituales en bandas de metal extremo que encajan perfectamente en el tema, y algunos riffs melódicos que recuerdan a los mismísimos “Diablical Masquerade” en su opus “Deaths Design”. El siguiente tema del álbum, es posiblemente el más raro del disco con creces, difícil de digerir e impresionante al mismo tiempo, una mezcla de ritmos y solos progresivos, con partes épicas gracias a los teclados, y que por momentos sino fuera por la voz y por el carácter de los teclados, podrías llegar a pensar que se trata de cualquier banda de metal progresivo. El quinto tema “Gospel Songs In E Minor”, vuelve a tener influencias thrasheras, y mi imaginación que no tiene límites me lleva a hacer comparaciones incluso con Coroner, por lo retorcido y técnicismo de los riffs, con una parte central atmosférica y oscura donde vuelven a tirar de la versatilidad vocal y de los teclados más épicos. “Ashamed” quizás sea el tema bajo estándards más clásicos, sin perder de vista el alto grado sinfónico, aunque sin llegar a la mezcla de estilos de otros temas del disco. Un tema de más de 6 minutos, con una variedad de riffs melódicos y de cambios de ritmos consecutivos que le llevan a ser otro de mis favoritos del disco. “The Clam Of Integrity” tiene uno de los mejores solos del trabajo, puramente heavy metal, insertado en una composición de black metal, que le da un caracter diferenciador. El penúltimo tema del disco, “Monster” vuelve a ser otro de esos temas, raros y pegadizo al mismo tiempo, con riffs lentos y machacones, con una parte central con teclados sinfónicos acompañado de guitarras progresivas y unos fantásticos coros. “The Day Of The Lord” cierra el disco, con más de 6 minutos de duración, vuelven a la mezcla de estilos, con ritmos más rockeros, en la honda Black Sabbath, y en algunos momentos llegan a recordar a las partes lentas de los odiados y al mismo tiempo tan queridos Cradle Of Filth.
Resumiendo un discazo, tal y como esperaba para mentes retorcidas, amantes de lo innovador y la experimentación musical. Perfecta fusión de estilos y mayor creatividad y variedad en las guitarras con respecto a sus anteriores trabajos. Esperemos que la reciente marcha de su teclista Emilio, no afecte al transcurso y prometedor futuro de la banda.
Having been really taken by The Heretic's 'Chemistry For The Soul' album, it is fair to say that the follow up has been eagerly awaited. So often in these cases the anticipation far outweighs the reality that actually greets you. Thankfully with 'Gospel Songs In E Minor', The Heretic have delivered the goods and what's more there is a authoritative stamp of quality about it all as well.
As this reviewer is painfully aware, The Heretic may not be the most universally known band around in present climes, but this shouldn't put anyone off investigated this sensational album. From the atmospherics of the introduction 'Sunday Morning, The 13th ' to the fading echoes of 'The Day Of The Lord' The Heretic simple dazzle with epic blasts of Symphonic Black Metal. If you were taken by the latest Arturnus offering then you are going to be simply blown away by this masterpiece of ingenuity and imagination.Epic passages of gloom combine freely with various effects, keyboard interplay and caustic vocals not forgetting the blistering guitar work that is the mainstay of this masterpiece. Its hard to pick out stand out tracks as this album is packed full of them from start to finish, but I particularly like the pounding stomp of 'Monster' complete with ancient chants and over the top synth work. The aforementioned 'The Day Of Our Lord' is also a majestic journey of light and shade, that show to anyone who cares to cope a listen that The Heretic are indeed very big news indeed.
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