Taking a slight sidestep from the more pagan French style I have become accustomed to from this label Hegemon are a much more orthodox proposition. Perhaps they have not always been this way as I note that in the past bagpipes have been attributed to their music. It’s been a while though since these ‘starry messengers’ last released an album ‘The Hierarch’ back in 2015 and the first thing I noted from the new material is that it is downright vicious in construction, feral and ravenous in the vocal department and ravaging away like a right beastie as far as the instruments are concerned. However, it is not without a contrast in poise and at times the guitarwork breathes with a glistening gothic grandeur and indeed gazes into the starry night in a style that would not be out of place in the midst of a Fields Of The Nephilim epic.

Starting with ‘Heimarménè’ the glittering structure unfolds with a sudden bombast of brutality that is harsh and brash. The densely layered focus is powerful and combined with the snarling vocals sounds dangerous and domineering. The blackness is omniscient and obsidian, ruggedly powerful and sweeping in intent, gathering you up and proceeding to pillage. As things carry on, I try and place the group in contrast to others and come up with somewhere pitched up in the middle between the huge scope of a band like Dark Fortress and the savagery of Otargos. It’s an intense and hardy listening experience that’s for sure, full of gloomy brief bridges paving the way for the next unrelenting surge of savagery. Yeah, there would really be no room here for pipes or twee sidesteps, the furrow is too full-on and the cleaving mindset unrelenting as these ‘Shamanic Cosmocrators’ unravel their dangerous and deadly spells. There’s occasional entrancement and a feminine presence adds some calm momentarily before the next explosive thrust, the melodies are tight despite the heaving might which swaggers away layered on violent blasts, pitching things down a chasm of hate.

There’s also the odd sound-byte sampled, briefly upping the feel of the apocalypse and adding to the atmosphere, this enforces the mission statement which is not quite hidden via arcane mystery; ‘[the key to the ultimate secret will lead to the final extinction of man].’ Spookiness and a downright macabre pitch into horror show territories see the ‘Ascendancy of Astral Chaos’ grimly crafting musical palpitations as they manifest a feeling of dread and unease. We hear the wails of the damned clearly, what sounds of suffering they make. Vocalist N adds drama to the shape-shifting chaos as he spits parts out with fiery venom and contorts into speaking tongues along with the differing shades of darkness within the music making this not so much a rollercoaster ride but more akin to the scariest ghost train you have ever hurtled along on.

By the time we get to the stalking, slashing riffs of closer ‘Your Suffering, My Pillars’ it’s obvious the progenitors of this album exist in a dimension where every day is Halloween and the time we have spent with them has been frightful and thrilling. For the time being there’s no need for a sequel as I fully expect being back here all too soon. Oculos Habent Et Non Videbunt.

(8/10 Pete Woods)

https://www.facebook.com/Hegemon.official

https://hegemon666.bandcamp.com/album/sidereus-nuncius