Heidenreich
Trance Of An Unholy Union
[Napalm]
Hailing from the incestuous Austrian metallic underground, this CD is the result of the combined effort of Thurisaz, Peter K. and Lucia-M. Faroutan-K. (or so the digipack says). I suspect all members of being involved in 10+ other Austrian projects. This is the second record of Heidenreich and it's released on Napalm records.
The first track (by Puissance) is a bombastic and militaristic hymn, or something: rigid drums, vast choirs and a cold, industrial atmosphere. Then, after a few spacey bleeps the music starts: moderately fast black metal, lucidly produced, with lots of samples and unusual keyboard work. A drum computer gives this record a strangely cold atmosphere, since the tempo shifts aren't exactly fluid.
The weird synth stuff throughout the songs is sometimes irritating (along with some of the weirder guitar riffs) because at those moments it seems the band is trying to be "avant-garde" just for the sake of it. Probably more "open-minded" people will like those parts more, but I'd rather have musical coherency instead of totally out-of-place anti-harmonics. There are more minor errors: Thurisaz is an able screamer, but his clean singing sounds kind of cheesy (I don't know if that's his voice or the melodies he sings), especially the "satan, satan" chant in the title track. Biggest error however is the totally sweet and loving outro "Heart of Midnight/Genocide" (the "Genocide" I guess refers to the few seconds of noise at the end of the outro)... Very strange, indeed.
All these cons don't weigh too heavily on this album, however. It's kind of a good black metal record; the (German) samples are a tasty addition to the music (especially in "Cosmic Reflections", after the intro). Good use of keyboards (most of the time), rigidly pounding (programmed) drums, able vocals and sometimes harsh, sometimes melodic guitar riffs. It certainly isn't a "nice" album, in fact it has got a pretty cold atmosphere and it proves to have lasting value, although after the first listen I had dismissed it as "cheese". Weird record.
© 2000 dwaallicht
The first track (by Puissance) is a bombastic and militaristic hymn, or something: rigid drums, vast choirs and a cold, industrial atmosphere. Then, after a few spacey bleeps the music starts: moderately fast black metal, lucidly produced, with lots of samples and unusual keyboard work. A drum computer gives this record a strangely cold atmosphere, since the tempo shifts aren't exactly fluid.
The weird synth stuff throughout the songs is sometimes irritating (along with some of the weirder guitar riffs) because at those moments it seems the band is trying to be "avant-garde" just for the sake of it. Probably more "open-minded" people will like those parts more, but I'd rather have musical coherency instead of totally out-of-place anti-harmonics. There are more minor errors: Thurisaz is an able screamer, but his clean singing sounds kind of cheesy (I don't know if that's his voice or the melodies he sings), especially the "satan, satan" chant in the title track. Biggest error however is the totally sweet and loving outro "Heart of Midnight/Genocide" (the "Genocide" I guess refers to the few seconds of noise at the end of the outro)... Very strange, indeed.
All these cons don't weigh too heavily on this album, however. It's kind of a good black metal record; the (German) samples are a tasty addition to the music (especially in "Cosmic Reflections", after the intro). Good use of keyboards (most of the time), rigidly pounding (programmed) drums, able vocals and sometimes harsh, sometimes melodic guitar riffs. It certainly isn't a "nice" album, in fact it has got a pretty cold atmosphere and it proves to have lasting value, although after the first listen I had dismissed it as "cheese". Weird record.
© 2000 dwaallicht