Heretic Cult Redeemer is the first release from the Greek black metallers of the same name. As far as black metal goes, it’s nothing massively special or ground-breaking, but it really isn’t a bad listen.
Opener Crawling Hope is a striking piece and the guitars on this one sound absolutely phenomenal. They have a fantastically raw tone and when coupled with the relentlessly hammering drums and the roughly-growled vocals on top, it’s a winning combination. It’s the perfect opener and really helps to get things moving.
Unfortunately, the release does dip a little, with following track Bleeding Of The Giant Sun and later track Concatenation not making quite as good of an impression. That’s not to say either of them are bad tracks, but they do sound a bit like every other generic black metal song out there, which is a shame because it feels like the band are capable of more.
The album does end on a nice high with 7. The introduction alone is stunning and the harsh vocals atop give a good contrast to the melody. The track has a bit of a doomy vibe to it in parts, in addition to the usual black metal, which makes it a little more versatile than the other songs and this can only be a good thing because it gives the track an extra ‘boost’. Way to end things on a high!
As far as black metal goes, I’ve heard better, but it is a good listen that does play on the band’s strengths and they’ve definitely got potential, so it’ll be interesting to see whether their next release will be the one that will blow me away.
6/10
Heretic Cult Redeemer: Facebook
