What has Heavy Metal become, as in real Heavy Metal. In some instances it has gone down the path of the ultra trve following the trails blazed by the likes of Tokyo Blade, Tygers Of Pan Tang and Praying Mantis. On the other hand however it has taken a seemingly modern edge encompassing fine tuned production values, groove laden riffs and a tone that sometimes rides a little too close to the mainstream, mostly these bands don’t seem to come across very well but how do The Heretic Order fare?

Hailing from England’s capital London, The Heretic Order formed in 2014 and swiftly released their debut full length All Hail The Order the year after. I found this release to be pretty enjoyable, showing promise for these modern Metallers, alas we enter 2018 and a new chapter for the Order. Evil Rising comes through Massacre Records and promises to expand on The Heretic Orders past creating yet more anthemic gems.

Following the cheesy yet almost totally necessary Prelude we enter the albums titular opus, Evil Rising this cascading track of pure Heavy Metal is a sing a long dream, coupled with savage riffs straight from the heart of Metal itself. It does beg the question though, have they put all their eggs in one basket? The answer being no, Unholy War, Straight Down (To Hell) and the epic The Scourge Of God all bring enjoyment to the table with the other tracks bolstering their prowess.

Admittedly no album is without its faults though and perhaps the most confusing albeit not negative point would be the vocals. At times the Alice Cooper/ Black Metal styled vocalist Lord Ragnar comes across as a Wednesday 13 copycat, later to progress into an almost Ozzy vocal style and then into some sort of bizarre mash of the two, it works but it is rather inconsistent. Equal to this is the strange way in which the whole of Evil Rising sounds like a comeback album, it literally has a Dark Roots Of The Earth or Worship Music vibe about it, the sound of an old band trying to sound modern which is perplexing considering they formed in 2014.

So even though The Heretic Order sound like time travelling Heavy Metallers whom pick on the roots of Shock Rock, Thrash Metal and Heavy Metal they do bring a great deal of energy. I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed Evil Rising and will certainly be listening to more of it as time goes by, catchy, energetic, eclectic, Metal and most importantly modern without being offensive, get this in your speakers.

(8/10 George Caley)

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