Shroud
of the Heretic - Revelations in Alchemy (2014)
Blood Harvest Records
Review by Trevor Proctor
Shroud
of the Heretic was formed back in 2009 in Portland, Oregon and released their
debut demo “Boiled to Death”; following some personnel changes the band
established today’s regular line up - vocalist/bassist Thom, drummer Lauren,
and guitarist JT. The vinyl edition of
Boiled to Death was limited to 300 copies and released by Blood Harvest Records
and on CD via Craneo Negro who also co-released the vinyl version – in 2013 Shroud
of the Heretic recorded their debut full length album “Revelations in Alchemy”
which was released on 10th March 2014 with Blood Harvest Records
again releasing the vinyl and Craneo Negro releasing the CD.
Shroud of the Heretic have toured extensively
and have shared a stage with the likes of Grave Upheaval, Impetuous Ritual,
Anhedonist and Ritual Necromancy amongst
others, they play bleak, blackened, oppressive Occult Death Metal and it’s been
reported that Revelations in Alchemy is their darkest work to date.
Heavy
rain, wind and occasional weird, creepy background noises introduce us to
Shroud of the Heretic’s opener “The Arrival” and straight away it’s apparent
they’re going to bring us on a bleak, oppressive, downright eerie musical journey.
After close to two minutes of an introduction Shroud of the Heretic blast our
ear drums with their ominous blend of blackened Occult Death Metal. At close to
seven minutes this is one of four of the longer tracks from the album but it’s
during these longer tracks that Shroud of the Heretic best showcase their
bleakness and ability to create darkened atmospheres, seemingly at will.
Bassist Thom’s vocal style is perfectly suited to the music, his low level
growls accompanying the music well and adding to the intensely oppressive
atmosphere. Heretical Screams follows, opening up at a faster pace but this pace
soon breaks as Shroud of the Heretic slow things down and surround us with
back-breakingly slow, doom laced melancholia. During Revelations in Alchemy
Shroud of the Heretic play at varying speeds, from fast paced all-out death
metal blasts to doom laden passages, yet the most prevalent factor is the
pervading ominous atmospherics woven throughout the course of the album.
I’ve
often said Death Metal is currently in the midst of its most productive and
creative period since the early 1990’s and within this genre there’s a splinter
group of bands standing out from the rest of the pack with their take on Death
Metal that uses more organic sounding production and darkened atmospherics –
bands playing this style of Death Metal have ditched shiny production and
technicality in favour of a more natural sounding approach which, when carried
out effectively, can sound much more authentic and miles more atmospheric than
many of their contemporaries.
Bands like 'שְׁאוֹל (Sheol), Malthusian, Abyssal, and Heresiarch are, in my humble
opinion, leading the way in terms of originality and authenticity. Shroud of
the Heretic also fall into this category, their music does exactly what they
intended it to do and it’s as bleak and atmospheric as you’ll hear. If you’re
looking for something overly technical or with clean, crisp, polished
production you just won’t get or understand this album, but if you’re after
some genuinely eerie, oppressive, suffocating, bleak death metal this is an
album for you; the atmospherics are worked extremely well throughout and it’s
another release that stands out from many of its rivals.
Tracklist:
1. The Arrival
2. Heretical Screams
3. Chaotic Astral Ascension
4. Illuminism
5. The
Adversary
6. Revelations in Alchemy
7. Blasphemous Rebirth.
Revelations in Blasphemy is available now from Blood Harvest Records.
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