Hefeystos
Bilce Sjen
[Wounded Love]
Normally, I would be quite pissed off if a band were to release a 11 minute mCD in a digipak (!!!) for fuck's sake...but this is quite different.
Hefeystos are from Poland (HAIL POLISH BLACK METAL!!!!!!) and most respectably live up to Poland's (mighty!!) reputation of producing fine music, but these guys do it in a far different way.
Instead of raw, evil sounding tunes, Hefeystos don't use any electrical guitars, and by doing that, they produce a far more "folky" sound.
Listening to the two songs represented here, keyboards are obviously a major factor in this bands sound. The keys used here are quite excellent, whoever is playing them
obviously knows what he is doing...they give a depressive, almost "sad" feel to the music, and combined with the pain-filled vocals, make for quite the dark CD.
Let's take a look at the two tracks:
"...Iv krainie drzem": This is by far the superior track on the CD, it's starts out nice and quiet via a synth bit, and then (just as any other black metal band would jump from a keyboard bit to a hyper-blast) moves into a double-acoustic guitar and drum attack. Keyboards fill the entire song, producing one of the best musical aura's I've heard in a long time. Excellent. After a few minutes of *perfect* guitar, drum, and synth melodies, the vocals kick in. The first time I heard this CD, the vox turned me off, simply because they are in the Solefald/Burzum fashion, but far more unique. After a few listens I learned to understand just how these vocals fit into the general feel of the music. Sad vocals+Sad music=A depressive atmosphere. A few female (spoken) vocals pepper the song, and it becomes a tad bit faster towards the end, but overall is slow paced and sombre. A perfect track.
"Lesnn Tron"- This track is a tad different. It starts out in a similar fashion, laid back, almost quiet sounding, with a thick sound picking itself and light keys, but quickly jumps into a barrage of acoustics/keys/vocals. It almost builds on itself sound-wise, and is quite effective simply because of that. The song (again) is filled with synths (excellent ones too), and the vocals are a tad more up front, and repeat themselves. Mid-way through the song there is some chanting, similar to stuff you'd find on an Ulver (Enslaved, Emperor etc.) disc. Another fine track, though far less depressing than the first one.
Overall, this is an excellent disc (though WAY too short) and I'd recommend it to anyone who likes low-key, depressive black/folk metal with a grand style to it. I shall definitely be checking out their self-titled debut in the near future.
© 1997 brand
"...Iv krainie drzem": This is by far the superior track on the CD, it's starts out nice and quiet via a synth bit, and then (just as any other black metal band would jump from a keyboard bit to a hyper-blast) moves into a double-acoustic guitar and drum attack. Keyboards fill the entire song, producing one of the best musical aura's I've heard in a long time. Excellent. After a few minutes of *perfect* guitar, drum, and synth melodies, the vocals kick in. The first time I heard this CD, the vox turned me off, simply because they are in the Solefald/Burzum fashion, but far more unique. After a few listens I learned to understand just how these vocals fit into the general feel of the music. Sad vocals+Sad music=A depressive atmosphere. A few female (spoken) vocals pepper the song, and it becomes a tad bit faster towards the end, but overall is slow paced and sombre. A perfect track.
"Lesnn Tron"- This track is a tad different. It starts out in a similar fashion, laid back, almost quiet sounding, with a thick sound picking itself and light keys, but quickly jumps into a barrage of acoustics/keys/vocals. It almost builds on itself sound-wise, and is quite effective simply because of that. The song (again) is filled with synths (excellent ones too), and the vocals are a tad more up front, and repeat themselves. Mid-way through the song there is some chanting, similar to stuff you'd find on an Ulver (Enslaved, Emperor etc.) disc. Another fine track, though far less depressing than the first one.
Overall, this is an excellent disc (though WAY too short) and I'd recommend it to anyone who likes low-key, depressive black/folk metal with a grand style to it. I shall definitely be checking out their self-titled debut in the near future.
© 1997 brand