Thinking about the good quality of new or relatively new bands coming from Eastern Europe these days, it’s not hard to open your ears when you know beforehand that your next review will be a Polish band, from a location called Ostrołęka. The band was previously known as Hellveto but changed name to Neoheresy around 2014. It consists of only one member that takes care of all instrumentation. I personally admire one-man-bands because the amount of work to create each and every piece of sound lies all on one pair of shoulders.
Neoheresy has a very defined sound. On the second full-length, Potop, as much as on Talionis, the approach doesn’t change much. The soul behind the music tries to grasp atmospheric moments charged with pagan mysteries. So, expect an album with a sound a bit far from the usual aggressive black metal and closer to an acoustic, bombastic, with chantings all over, that sing along with the distorted voice of the solitary warrior. Those who do not stand keyboards in metal step back, or maybe give this work a chance, because the keyboards are not so omnipresent that they could destroy the weight of the sound or whatever. They are, therefore, a great complement to the sound.
Take for example “Wśród bitewnych pól”, the keyboards are there, a little orchestration in the background, clean and growled vocals, the occasional clean guitar, the epic tone of the drumming parts and the melodies evoking battle fields. “Nadchodzi wojna, nadchodzi głód...” shows its symphonic side more than any other but the album has all these elements playing together in some interesting harmony.
To sum it all, this work is very good for fans of underground pagan black metal. I would point to some things in the final mix that, in my taste, won’t work so well. The sound is sometimes flat, and I would like the drums a bit louder in the mix. On the other hand, considering this a work of a young talented individual, such technical issues are not of the utmost importance. This is a very creative work and in future albums I would like to feel more of that melodic pagan side that sometimes doesn’t feel exploited to the maximum. The last song “Potop” can sum up the kind of nice atmosphere Neoheresy can show.
Notes:
Potop was released on March 1 2016 in CD digipack by Elegy Records (USA).
Tracklist:
1. Preludium
2. Dar
3. Wśród bitewnych pól
4. Dotyk albo miecz
5. Nadchodzi wojna, nadchodzi głód...
6. Czarny śnieg
7. Po kolana we krwi
8. Potop
Personnel:
F. – All instruments, vocals.
Text by Vetrarnótt
Neoheresy has a very defined sound. On the second full-length, Potop, as much as on Talionis, the approach doesn’t change much. The soul behind the music tries to grasp atmospheric moments charged with pagan mysteries. So, expect an album with a sound a bit far from the usual aggressive black metal and closer to an acoustic, bombastic, with chantings all over, that sing along with the distorted voice of the solitary warrior. Those who do not stand keyboards in metal step back, or maybe give this work a chance, because the keyboards are not so omnipresent that they could destroy the weight of the sound or whatever. They are, therefore, a great complement to the sound.
Take for example “Wśród bitewnych pól”, the keyboards are there, a little orchestration in the background, clean and growled vocals, the occasional clean guitar, the epic tone of the drumming parts and the melodies evoking battle fields. “Nadchodzi wojna, nadchodzi głód...” shows its symphonic side more than any other but the album has all these elements playing together in some interesting harmony.
To sum it all, this work is very good for fans of underground pagan black metal. I would point to some things in the final mix that, in my taste, won’t work so well. The sound is sometimes flat, and I would like the drums a bit louder in the mix. On the other hand, considering this a work of a young talented individual, such technical issues are not of the utmost importance. This is a very creative work and in future albums I would like to feel more of that melodic pagan side that sometimes doesn’t feel exploited to the maximum. The last song “Potop” can sum up the kind of nice atmosphere Neoheresy can show.
Notes:
Potop was released on March 1 2016 in CD digipack by Elegy Records (USA).
Tracklist:
1. Preludium
2. Dar
3. Wśród bitewnych pól
4. Dotyk albo miecz
5. Nadchodzi wojna, nadchodzi głód...
6. Czarny śnieg
7. Po kolana we krwi
8. Potop
Personnel:
F. – All instruments, vocals.
Text by Vetrarnótt
