Since January 2015, a little over a
year ago, an esoteric, probably Canadian, allegedly Norwegian act known as
Heathen has quietly issued a steady release of high quality underground metal
albums. And when I say “high
quality,” I’m not talking about production value. Heathen’s sound in closely akin to the raw, DIY recordings
of the early 90’s Norwegian metal scene in all the best of ways. To date, the outfit has released five
albums, as well as two demos that were made available towards the end of 2015,
in October and December. Heathen
presses all albums solely on cassette tapes with very limited, hand-numbered
production runs ranging from 25 to 100 cassettes. Select tracks from each album are available for free
download on Heathen’s bandcamp site, but as far as I can tell, there is no
other way to acquire the band’s music (except via the secondary market), as all
albums are currently sold out. I
was fortunate enough to receive a copy of Heathen’s latest release, Heathen (aka 5th/Blue), and the recording simply blew me away.
Heathen
scratches an itch that has festered beneath my skin for some time now. This album hoists high the waning torch
of the early Norwegian black metal scene—and not through relentless blast
beats, belligerent vocals, or incessant tremolo picking, but through pure atmosphere
and raw production. Leaning on
pedigrees and commercial appeal, many bands these days claim to champion the
true Norwegian sound, but honestly most of it sounds like death metal that's
been kicked in the balls, minus the guitar solos. Heathen makes no claims, rejects commercial ambitions, and
simply lets the music do the talking.
With roughshod production, Heathen ferments a nuanced sound that is
saturated with buzzing, distorted atmosphere. Layers of guitar tone open and close upon the listener, who
quickly finds him/herself submerged in an abyss of arcane mysticism. The hazy production encourages the
listener to focus attentively on every sound and subtlety of the recording, as
if picking up on a transmission from a parallel dimension, a land lost to space
and time. The closer one listens
to each note and texture, the more mesmerizing the sound becomes, until
eventually one has been spirited to the world of Heathen’s creation. Enthralled by this ever-expanding
alternate reality, the listener relinquishes control, and the recording
swallows him/her whole.
The compositions on Heathen are equally varied and trance
inducing. Bolstered by a rumbling
kick drum barrage, dancing high hats, and invigorating tremolo riffage, “A
Claim to the Skies” jump-starts the record with a galloping rhythm, like a pale
horse charging into battle on a frosty dawn. Second track, “The Satanic Mill” invokes the type of
sinister, dissonant melodies that all good black metal releases should
possess. Heathen buries the vocal
performances perfectly in the mix so as to evoke a more harrowing sound. Rasps and screams surface as if from
some tormented being trapped in a deep, hostile pit. On top of these vocals, Heathen hypnotizes the listener with
coiling, cyclical riff-snakes. All
of these elements combine to pay significant homage to the profound atmospheres
and necro production style found in the early works of bands like Burzum,
Ulver, and Satyricon, among others.
However, this album is not
merely a ritualistic invocation of the past. It expands and improves upon frontier concepts of the
genre. Heathen assembles
entrancing, single-riff behemoths of songs that maintain a sense of anticipation
in a way that Burzum utterly failed to do on 2012’s Umskiptar.
Additionally, Heathen introduces harmonic elements to it’s layering of
guitars and synths in a fairly unique way that augments the enchanting quality
of the songs.
Plain and simple, Heathen is black metal done right. While old bands turn progressive or
symphonic and new groups peddle blackened-ambient-post-dronegaze crap, Heathen
looks back to the roots in an effort to cultivate new growth. This is what the early Norwegian scene
did: it created this entirely frigid, wholly separate mental reality that was
completely foreign to any mainstream sensibility and yet strangely and utterly
familiar to the human psyche. And
this is what Heathen accomplishes today.
Sounds like some [not so] "Feeble Screams from Forests Unknown"…
Score: 9/10
