Artist: Aerdryk / Oerheks
Country: Belgium
Label: Amor Fati Productions
Formats: Split LP
Year: 2026
Despite them both taking their own paths, Aerdryk and Oerheks have been linked since the very beginning. They represented the 199th and 200th release by Amor Fati Productions, both being released on the same day. They both honour their home country of Belgium with music, and the sole members of both bands, C.V.B of Aerdryk and H. of Oerheks, have long worked together in one shape or form, both in these acts and in their other endeavours. But now that partnership materializes in their long-awaited split, with both bands offering a new track presented on ‘Relieken I’.
Long-awaited, since the material of both bands was recorded and announced quite some time ago. To start off with Aerdryk, ‘Onder het Teken van het Heilig Vuur’ was already recorded in 2022, a year after the debut ‘Met de Drietand op Mijn Huid’. On the same day that this split is released, the sophomore album ‘Onzuiver’ also sees the light, and in comparison the contribution on ‘Relieken I’ is a clearly closer in sound to the debut. While stylistically both albums tapped from a similar atmospheric Black Metal vein, ‘Met de Drietand op Mijn Huid’ felt a bit more raw, haunting and emphasising the catchiness of the keyboards, while ‘Onzuiver’ had a clearer sound with more focus on the guitars. ‘Onder het Teken van het Heilig Vuur’ is a thirteen-minute track (to be exact, it lasts 13:13) much in the vein of debut, although perhaps a little bit more on the unsettling side. With that shriller and more keyboard-led sound, it starts off rather haunting at a low pace before organically shifting in tempo. The song develops into more dreamlike spheres, where keys and clean chanting often lead beautifully together with the rich bass. Still there is a threat, with some eerie strumming and rapid changes in pace, and in particular midway the track there is a sense of escalation, a plunge into the dark. Altogether C.V.B. has managed to make the song dynamic, with plenty of tempo variation and riffs, but everything feels cohesive. Much like ‘Met de Drietand op Mijn Huid’, I prefer this more keyboard-driven side of the band, and this song would have effortlessly fit on that in my opinion best Aerdryk release.
The Oerheks track ‘Goden op de Heuvel’ dates back slightly further, with recording taking place in 2021. At that time H. had already recorded the four demos that have come out over the past years, yet this Split track predates the recording of the fifth demo, the fully Ambient ‘Winterzonnewende’. With every demo Oerheks presented a slightly different sound, and ‘Goden op de Heuvel’ lands somewhere between the atmospheric Black Metal of the first demo ‘Cagghenvinna’ and the third demo ‘Valkengebed’. It’s an overall dreamier track, more long-spun and observing with catchy leads woven throughout. During the nearly fourteen minutes the song ebbs and flows in pace, going from thrusting pace to slow ambience with clean strumming. But as always, it’s the gorgeous leads and drive in the track that make Oerheks’ work so entrancing. Those that have been waiting since the last Demos were released in 2024 will be more than satisfied with this contribution to ‘Relieken I’, though one certainly hopes even more Oerheks material is on the horizon.
Four years after the two bands simultaneously released their very first recordings, the union has come full circle with this Split. With material dating from the time of those debuts, ‘Relieken I’ feels like a homecoming, a trip down memory lane. Whether the circular bond between the band will continue to run through the future, only time will tell. But for now, this Split offers everything you would hope from the companionship of Aerdryk and Oerheks.
