Heritech “Prophecy: The Apocalyptic Enigma” (2008)

This takes you by surprise and rips your notions of electronica and metal marraiges to shreds as the opener tears out of the speakers. It happened to me. The band photos, website, lyrics and the press release all promised an interesting experience, but not this. Its a sick and demented mix of symphonic, industrial and metal elements that is held together by the super glue of the concept.

The album is essentially divided into 4 movements, and each consists of short musical pieces, but before you file this under progressive metal, know that this is very disturbing while still remaining within the bounds of music. The term “disturbing” gets thrown around a lot in metal reviews, but trust me on this one. It manages to create a feeling of disquiet that few releases do. But unlike their contemporaries (PHOBOS , Blut Aus Nord), these guys are all over the musical spectrum. They do not flog the dissonant post-doom horse, rather beating a whole stable of horses (called dark wave, industrial, goth, black metal as well the much abused doom) into the ground within a span of 20 minutes. The apocalyptic lyrics are rasped, screamed, sung, roared and groaned over some serious drum machine sacrilege and a violation of an assortment of synthesizers. The distorted guitars are not over loud in the mix, being one of the many weapons of musical destruction here. Sometimes the sound gets over ambitious and would benefit from some more song writing maturity and a better production (as on the opening tracks ). I found the second and third movement to contain the best songs, where some calm allows the sad piano refrains (not unlike prime NIN doing neo-classical) to shine through, and the band locks into a industro-black metal groove in places. But they don’t ever let the listener rest easy for long. While listening intently I discovered the band defying time and space as the album seems much longer than 20 minutes. The layers of samples alone would be a mile long.

I thought I had heard every strain of industrial metal around, and am thus thankful to Heritech for proving me wrong. I am scared to think what a full length will hold. The eerie disquieting yet frantic emotions the music conjures may cause spasms if exposed to long enough. After repeated listens i discovered the secret :no single component of this EP follows convention, not the guitar riffs, not the synths or sample placement,not the drum programming and lord knows not the production. Top it with schizophrenic vocals and song structures from a rock nightmare, and there you have it. Apocalyptic discomfort !

-Suleiman

VITALS:

Release:  2008
Label:  Self-Released
Avantgenre:  Electronimetal Mayhem
Duration:  20 Minutes
Origin:  USA
Official site:  http://www.heritech.net
Review online since:  17.12.2008 / 15:03:36

TRACKLIST:

1.Prognostication
2.Adventum Rebellionous
3.The Second Oracle
4.Modernistic Misanthropy
5.Mausoleum (Antediluvian Scourge)
6.Endless Blue

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