Artist: Heathendom
Country: USA
Label: Sonorous Night
Formats: Cassette Tape
Year: 2025
‘The Nightspirit Symphony’ is the debut 2-track demo tape from an anonymous duo from the United States. With a title like this, it might not surprise that the label sold to listeners who “know their history”, as the music on offer would reflect that of early Covenant, Odium and Gehenna. I like to kid myself that I am a person who knows “his history,” but beyond that I am a definite fan of those (slightly) symphonic and melodic excesses of Norwegian Black Metal. So it took no more than a few moments of reading before I delved directly into the band’s musical antics.
A term like “Symphonic Black Metal” can be a bit misleading, there is quite a discrepancy between bands like (current) Dimmu Borgir or, say, Morgul on the one hand and early Satyricon or Kvist on the other. But without getting bogged down in a discussion of categories or semi-scientific nomenclature, Heathendom has nothing in common with the bombast of what we today consider Symphonic Black Metal. Heathendom is a genuine homage to the moody and melancholic sort of Black Metal that the label so aptly mentioned in their description.
Maybe I don’t really recognize much of Odium or “demo-era Covenant” in Heathendom’s overall sound, but there sure is much of that highly influential touch of Gehenna that feeds the foundation of this newly found band. The two songs on this demo tape account for over 20 minutes of authentic Norwegian Black Metal. The kind that lingered a bit in the background of the scene, the music that is only discovered by those who cared to dig a little deeper beyond the more obvious flagbearers of Norwegian Black Metal. Heathendom may not be Norwegian geographically, but spiritually they are clearly connected to the musical heritage of the Scandinavian country.
All this means that ‘The Nightspirit Symphony’ weaves together basically all the individual musical elements that made all those classic records from those vibrant 90’s so irresistibly alluring. It is not only the memorable riffing and the recognizable moody production, but it might very well be the dynamics in these two tracks that makes this such an impressive debut demo tape. The use of piercing guitars, gloomy keyboards, icy vocals and vigorous drums alone doesn’t make for a great track. It’s the addition of true craftmanship that makes a track a great song. And exactly that’s going on here, this truly is an excellent demo tape.
