HERESIARCH - Death Ordinance
August 9, 2017, 6 years ago
(Dark Descent)
On their debut full-length, New Zealand’s Heresiarch lay down death metal like old pros. Opener “Consecrating Fire” starts out with doomy death that has a great, raw vibe to it; It’s an appropriate opening war march for the album, and I love how it leads into “Storming Upon Knaves” (which I originally thought was called “Storming Upon Kansas”, which would be much more intriguing), the song all raging death metal, the sound bordering on war metal mania thanks to the excellent, natural production and the energy levels just racing through the roof on every song here.
Elsewhere, a black/death feel and sound reigns supreme, Heresiarch doing it all with grace and ease, the band even demonstrating a bit of songwriting smarts on “Harbinger”, while “The Yoke”’s frantic war sludge creates an incredible atmosphere. This is very strong for a first full-length, and the band’s decisions are all good (natural production to bring out the humanity of the playing; 40-minute runtime to keep the listener refreshed and wanting more; ending off with a to-the-depths, atmospheric sludge piece in “Desert Of Ash”); I’m looking forward to seeing what they do next.
