If you want to be firmly put in your place, then you can do worse than to listen to a Hegerøth album. “Disintegrate” is the band’s fifth album. Thematically it’s about the mindlessness of society where only one kind of thinking is imposed. Well, it was never going to be a romcom from this band, whose approach to the creation of black metal has always been diverse and imaginative, I’ve found.
I was transferring this album to my device so that I could listen to it more readily, when I pressed a button inadvertently. The sound that came out was like a cross between the dead being woken and the experience of being electrocuted. I decided there and then that I was going to like “Disintegration”. Listening to the album in a more conventional way, it starts with “The Snake”. The style is interesting. The sharp vocal style and the rolling progress are not unlike Immortal, I thought. At the same there’s the dismal Polish smokiness about the guitar work. It’s a powerful combination. “The Snake” is like a march to war. Hegerøth seem to have slowed down their attack in favour of heightened nastiness. The war continues with “Debased”. But musically it’s a war campaign which is fluid barring one break following which we’re on the march attack. Hop two three four. Dirty black riffs rise from the ashes. A nice touch is the sound of ironic laughter. Forward we go on this black metal adventure. Hegerøth switch the tempo on “The Dirt”, and line the merciless assault with colourful guitar work. I felt more could have been done with the eccentric ending but I appreciated the intrigue of it. I thought initially that Hegerøth were going to dig a grave on “The Ritual” but it transforms into a dirty melodic romp. Always in forward drive, there’s definite melody in this. As a whole this album is less extreme than its predecessor “Sacra Doctrina” but it’s every bit as tightly played and laced with little twists to intrigue us.
“Uplifted” has a similar quality to “The Snake” – the Immortal style attack with the harsh, fuming instrumentals surrounding to give it a rampant atmosphere. The lyrics are dripping with irony, and contrast the superficial majesty of religion as “a host of youngsters is also rushing here, it’s more of a picnic for them, they grab the girls’ long dresses to look into the sinful shit”. ““The Shepherd”, another one with a chilling message, is a musical masterpiece of structure, driving us forward with its insistent riff and passing through clever passages without ever losing its direction. And direction is what all these songs have. Although there’s a constant sense of suffering, the harsh marching rhythms are a delight. “The Ring” once more leaves us breathless, taking no prisoners yet managing to fit in a seamlessly integrated guitar solo. Hegerøth enter the creepy side of black metal with “The Queen of Spiders”. “From your bitten nails, the filth of thy day descends upon me”, it starts. I like the fact that the sleeve insert contains the lyrics in English and Polish. It’s great that we’re all kept informed. The menace, which never wavers through the whole album, builds up and imperiously spreads itself through the song. It’s never extreme in the sense of being outright violent, but everything is cleverly controlled and razor sharp. “An Accident” is the final romp. Penetrative and harsh as usual, it stops and restarts with the customary swirling, dirty and direct black metal which makes this album so enjoyable.
This is the sort of album where its driving force of defiance sweeps you along from beginning to end. More melodic than other Hegerøth albums, black clouds still abound. With harshness, tight musicianship as ever and the colourful instrumental structures to support the pomp and ceremony of the instrumental attack, “Disintegration” is another fine exposition of the dark arts from Hegerøth.
(9/10 Andrew Doherty)
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