Heresiarh

Mythical Beasts and Mediaeval Warfare (Demolition)
by Scott Hefflon

Heresiarh? Oh, is that what that says? Clunky name and a high schooler’s fantasy cover painting, but the band’s from Latvia (that’s a country, right?) so I’ll cut ’em slack. I will say this for ’em; although they write bad early Emperor songs and pose in front of too many castles and bleak countrysides, they have the good graces to finally let the female sing lead and the guy growl and scream as punctuation. Between blast beats and blurring riffs buried in the mix and songs that sound like a wolf racing through a forest (a poorly-produced forest, I add regretfully), there’s some real potential here. Like a gem in the rough, all they need is to tighten their craft, find someone who knows how to work the board, and basically, chisel themselves to sharp perfection.
(PO Box 62 Jarrow NE38 5WJ England, UK)