Heretic Death Cult
(Unholy Fire Records)
50:49min
This is the third album from this Belgian blackened Death Metal band. The name sounded familiar to me, so I went in my memory, and yes, I have their past CD in my collection. That usually means that it is a good band. Well, things have not changed, their sound is not far away from GOD DETHRONED as they have a quite thrashy feeling. Early DEICIDE also comes to mind and some good old DISMEMBER can be found in there like in ‘Unearthing The Magic (Devoted To Death Part II)’. The production is good enough in the way that it does not sound so perfect that otherwise it would give them a BEHEMOTH-ish sound. Instead it is a bit dirty yet I think it fits them very well. The vocals are more in the high pitched vein, having a Black Metal touch in the NIFELHEIM side to make a reference. Talking about variety, some songs here also have a strong DARK FUNERAL / DISSECTION vibe, like in ‘Respice Finem (Food For Worms)’ that leaves the Thrash influences a bit behind in favor of a more Swedish Black Metal sound. The band keeps it quite interesting as for some other songs like ‘Procession Of The Living Dead’ it has a strong MORBID ANGEL sound to it. As an overall product it is quite interesting as the range of styles and influences are quite variated without drifting much from the Black / Death Metal sound. It still falls a bit short from being more memorable, but also very few bands dare to do something similar and without a doubt with a very good quality. www.facebook.com/zardens, www.unholyfire-records.com
Julián “Via Subterranea” Núñez
• ZARDENS - Blackness Unfolds (Mirco Szymyslik)
• ZARDENS - Breeding The Dark (Luxi Lahtinen)