Artist: Heresiarch
Country: New Zealand
Label: Iron Bonehead Productions
Formats: LP / CD
Year: 2024
From the very start, in the form of the first ‘Hammer Of Intransigence’ 12” EP from 2011 and its follow-up in the form of ‘Wælwulf’, Heresiarch has firmly been carving its name in the War/Bestial Black/Death Metal genre. With its savage pummelling the New Zealanders were able to please those seasoned listeners of the most relentless audial beating with each following release. Although the band has never been very prolific, ‘Edifice’ being only the second full-length, following 2017’s ‘Death Ordinance’, they were never the band to disappoint…
And with ‘Edifice’ that is not very likely to change, at all. The musical formula as heard on the band’s previous efforts has not changed in the slightest, but throughout the years Heresiarch has refined its art significantly. On the previously mentioned ‘Hammer Of Intransigence’ 12” the band sounded quite incoherent, which had its charm, but it pales compared to how the band is pulling off the same track some thirteen years later. In fact, the musical maturity that is on display on ‘Edifice’ is quite stunning. The average listener not used to the more savage forms of Black/Death Metal might find it a bold statement, but the true connoisseurs amongst us, will acknowledge the band’s sense for sophisticated and intriguing song writing.
There’s two things that sets ‘Edifice’ apart from the band’s earlier output and from the majority of their contemporaries. First is the heavy, but clearly textured sound. While a lot of music in this particular corner of the genre, which is already disorganized in its essence to begin with, tends to sound rather muddy and subsequently quite interchangeable, that is not the case with Heresiarch. The music on offer here is based on actual riffing and logical song structures. Secondly, and certainly most important, ‘Edifice’ sounds more dynamic than ever before. Sometimes it is slow and lingering on doomy sinister and even atmospheric tempos (sometimes not even too far from Funeral Doom territories), but only to strike back mercilessly sharp again. That game in the twilight, swinging you back and forth between fear and utter aggression, is what makes this sophomore album such an alluring ride.
Drilling things down to the core, none of the presented material here on ‘Edifice’ is new nor will it surprise anyone following the band for the past fifteen years or so. But it is the craftsmanship with which the album was forged that makes it a splendid effort in multi-layered Black/Death Metal. In fact, the painstaking precision and musical depth of ‘Edifice’ sets the band apart from the more one-dimensional War Metal/Bestial Black Death Metal genre.
