Heretic Cult Redeemer – S/T LP
The Greek metal scene continues to writhe and awaken/inspire greatness within the dark hearts of its inhabitants. Heretic Cult Redeemer, featuring members of Acrimonious, Necrovorous, and Embrace of Thorns in its ranks, has surfaced on the ever impressive Iron Bonehead for their ambitious self-titled debut. Having never heard this or any of the other bands that HCR’s members have arrived from, this was a blank slate listen for me which unlocked a swarm of darkened excitement and unique ancient mysticism.
Many have stated on the internet that 2013 thus far has been a sleeper year for metal releases and I just don’t get that, and wonder what shit pile a lot of these peoples heads are buried in. If anything, this year has unlocked even more very strong bands like Bolzer, Aosoth, Infera Bruo (to name a few) and now Heretic Cult Redeemer who all step out of the confines of their respected genres and offer up a fresh take on what can only be referred to as a “tired” sound. Sure…. musical complacency has its place, for instance, who would want Motorhead to suddenly put out an album that sounds like Cradle of Filth? My point is, there are a lot of bands arising from obscurity that are approaching their instruments and riff writing in a completely different and heady way. It’s a good thing. Heretic Cult Redeemer is such a band. Their twisted and bending harmonies swirl in an aether that sounds like no other band that comes to mind. Even the fact that they are Greek has no real influence on their sound, for that entire scene is known for a specific melodic mold that is shared by many of the forefathers of that scene and has been handed down to newer bands. HCR’s focus is on the black metal style spectrum, but they do embrace enough of a droning death essence to give their overall sound a dank hopelessness that seeps into the listener’s life. Tracks like Unknown Salvation are almost maddening in the hypnotic push/repetition of unnatural riffs and patient crawl in the delivery. It’s a ritual gone horribly wrong and the madness leaches onto the back of even the more up-tempo tracks such as the amazing “Crawling Hope” that starts this album off with amazing layered segments of music that inject melody and unique passages over a blasting drum performance. Deathly shouted vocals that spill into ugly choral accompaniment suit this music perfectly and provide an even more special element rarely explored by the masses. The full production places everything out in front and possessed by reverb which allows a deep atmosphere to empower this material. Perhaps such a modern sound may suggest a lack of mysticism, but thankfully the dissonant riff stylings and sinister intent of Heretic Cult Redeemer is enough to shuffle us all back in time when the plagues raged and despair weighed heavy on the minds of a crippled society.
Heretic Cult Redeemer has been another nice surprise. Skilled and endlessly unique music without going too far over the mark into “unlistenable” territories, this is a new band that isn’t even up on the Metal Archives yet, so there is no telling if there were any other demo or EPs before this S/T affair, but the strange mixture HCR is concocting is a torturous brew of innovative and poisonous black metal. The LP is limited to 500 copies and comes with an A2 poster. -Marty
Iron Bonehead
Worm Gear 