Despite this being their, what, seventh full album I don’t recall ever having even heard of Hetroertzen (originally from Chile, now based in Sweden it seems) – but that’s neither here nor there in the world of black metal.
What is important is how the…hell… I describe this.
‘The Arrival’ is a slow, atmospheric intro, a dark and dungeon like ambient scene setter; wailing voices, odd noises, keyboards. Then the abrupt transition into ‘Sea In Black’ sets up the template for the album. It’s an odd one. Essentially the sound is raw and built around straightforward riffing, but the mix (I assume intent here) brings the rough edged vocals to the fore. They are unusual; pretty much spoken for the most part and the lyrics almost entirely audible. They are delivered very much as a sermon and without totally clinging to the riff either. More they are mostly delivered with an unwavering conviction and an unvarying rhythm which at times seems to add to the devotion and the serious intent, but at others drags me back to an age of lo-fi black metal being the norm.
Throughout the album we do get passages of ambient like the intro but for the most part this is stripped back black metal that relies on simple drum battery and a monomaniacal urge to drive the bare bones riff home. Yes, we get waving melodic notes here and there, the occasional softer layer, but always giving way to the intoned vocals and their esoteric, symbolic messages.
And I find this all strangely difficult.
Just for context, the new Black Cilice album which is an absolute deluge of sheer aggressive noise and not for the casual listener settled in quite easily. Hetroertzen on the other hand with pretty much an album which musically is not difficult and whose vocals pretty much hand hold you into their meaning and their philosophy I have trouble with. On one hand some like the closing song ‘The Conjuring Of The Seven Spirits’ is pretty compelling and yet then up crops a song like ‘Vultus Satani’ which sadly….well it sounds…musically average but lyrically pretty sub par I am genuinely sad to say.
On the plus side after nearly 20 years I think we can safely say that this is what Hetroertzen want to sound like. It is on one hand some will dismiss it as basic and primitive. Others will praise it for exactly the same reason. I genuinely admire that this feels like the sound that they want, and it is completely uncompromising in its rigid adherence and its devotional nature. You have to stand back and accept that.
For me though in the end though I don’t find it boring in the slightest, not at all, too many parts feel lacking in imagination I guess and sometimes the convoluted lyrics are almost forced into the space allocated.
Ah I dunno. I should like this a whole lot more than I do but despite multiple plays it just doesn’t entirely click.
But if you want a very different approach to most current black metal you should definitely check them out.
(6/10 Gizmo)
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