The Heretic Anthem - Gathering of the Dead

Tracklist

01. Gathering of the Dead (The Resurrected I) 00:46
02. Retaliation Has Been Fulfilled 04:09
03. Absorbing the Blood from the Humans 05:32
04. There Was an Evil Murderous Glimpse 07:50
05. Praise the Flesh (The Resurrected II) 01:35
06. Drowning in the Pools of Distraughted Ones 04:29
07. Freezing, Isolated, Contained (The Resurrected III) 00:55
08. Inhibitate All Strength and Emotions 06:12
09. When the Dead Fumes Has Been Inhaled 04:17
10. And Watch Over a Thousand Horror (The Resurrected IV) 00:48
11. There Was an Evil Murderous Glimpse (Orchestral Version) 07:49

Total Runningtime 00:44:25

The Heretic Anthem is a truly original metal act that simply stands on its own and defies any genre classification or limitations. The tag given themsleves is " Horrified Metal " but as far as this materialized is concerned, I don't even think that is accurate. It is the finest musical storytelling I've ever seen expressing all the intended emotions flawlessly as well as creating a consistent narration that creates a lot of dynamic and enables you to envision all the scenes as if they're happening in front of your eyes. It is a proper theater play expressed through sound and really no image is needed because in your head, every detail is seen crystal clear. I actually feel like any visual depiction would actually harm the effect of this, making you feel like a spectator. When listening to the album however, you get involved and caught up in the act, making you unable to pull away before the album is over because you just need the closure in order to break free. Such unusual and dark music demands a powerful concept but never in a million years would I have expected something as gruesome and morbid as this.

Despite the storytelling itself being so accentuated, don't get any illusions that the actual music suffers from this. It's actually quite the contrary. With proper black metal roots and a primitive low-fi sound mixed with symphonic elements and insane dynamic riffs and drums, a nicely balance is created between the story itself and the way the music makes you feel. This evil shows off with no difficulty in bringing technical skills forward in a way that enhances the emotional content instead of killing it. The riffs bring a combination of tremolo picking black metal style and intensely rhythmic, sliced and galloping art metal influences, the end result being neither of these two faces but something entirely different. Drums are based on the holy blast beat and double pedals, keeping technical pattern that is usually sliced and manipulated with incisions of intricate cymbal work and blistering strums. Above this unforgiving metal skeleton floats a symphony of horror soundtrack strings orchestral that blend the emotion into the complex structure of the music. keys may lurk into the background and just keep a constant tone but they also come forward quite often to sweep fast and dramatic melodies that sometimes merge with guitar leads for even more intensity.

For the most part it sticks to the established formula of cinematic, varied and progressive metal riffing and drumming, and the inimitable The Heretic Anthem whose voice often resembles the album's seven spirits fighting for demonic control over the mouth of one possessed. There are a few minor differences: the "story" is a series of vignettes on the theme of war rather than a start-to-finish narrative, the shortest track is an interesting song in its own right rather than a mere interlude, male choir vocals are used more liberally in the heavier parts, etc. But the most obvious change is that there's a lot more actual metal on this nominal black metal materialized. Still you think The Heretic Anthem is titling fuckin Slipknot? you're fuckin wrong ! This only the strikingly theatrical nature of the lyrics coupled with the almost perfect pronunciation allows you to lose yourself within this record and bask in its beautiful depressiveness.

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