HEIDEN „Andzjel”

Magick Disk Music, 2022

Music: Progressive Post Black Metal
Website:
https://heidenhorde.com/en
https://www.facebook.com/kapelaheiden/
https://heiden.bandcamp.com/album/andzjel?mail_heiden_album_11.11

Black Metal with Czech language! Or Progressive Rock in Czech language! So, very alternative, very progressive Post Black Metal! But first…

HEIDEN was founded in 2003 as a Black Metal band with Pagan tendences. In 2009 they recorded their first album “Obsidian”, which contained the compositions closest to Black Metal, and which I had the opportunity to review. Then, in 2011, the next album “Dolores” came out, which began to reveal the band’s inclinations towards more poetic and ambitious melodies and Post Rock themes. In 2013 HEIDEN released the album “A kdybys už nebyla, vymysl​í​m si tě” that moved away from Black Metal towards instrumental Post Rock. On the next album “Na sv​ů​j p​ř​í​b​ě​h jsme sami”, HEIDEN continued the Post Rock style adding a Progressive Rock approach to the arrangement and vocals. The penultimate “Země beze mě” maintained the style of the previous album, maybe with more emphasis on the “progressive” side of Rock…

In turn, on the latest album “Andzjel” something must have influenced the band’s approach to creating the music, because HEIDEN remembered its roots and again began to draw inspiration from Black Metal patents, albeit with carefulness. The inclinations towards Post Rock and “progression” remained…

Here sharp Black Metal flows with climatic Progressive Rock. In fact, it’s hard to say what dominates, whether furious and predatory Black Metal or hypnotic Progressive Rock. Both genres seem to shove each other, replace each other, but also coexist at the same time, creating a melancholy-dark mood, very serious… mysterious at times.

However, Black Metal hits are not classic. It’s closer to DSBM than to second-wave of Black Metal. The musicians also often allow different sounds of the keys to be voiced. Sometimes so psychotic that the song “Nevěřím těm očím” reminded me of the album “Victorian Mechanical & Nosferatu 1922 AD” by an unknown band from Nashville – VAMPAKIS VATICIT. And since I mentioned “Nosferatu” … then “Andzjel” lyrically travels around the White Carpathians. We all know that the Carpathians are a dangerous and dark mountain area, where many dark folk beliefs come from… And that’s probably why you can feel the inspiration of folklore.

Black Metal on “Andzjel” is heavy and powerful, but interspersed with psychedelic, atmospheric, almost hypnotic moments of Progressive Ppost Rock compositions…

And Post Rock solos and Black Metal screams go on simultaneously with calm singing and melorecitation. On the other hand, Progressive Rock themes are spatial, created by guitar solos, complicated bass and delicate keyboards.

For a change, there are a lot of weird keyboard melodies, slightly electronic samples or inserts in the style of Dark Ambient. The woman, Werlinga, is responsible for the keyboards in the band.

The whole thing is dark and mysterious… often a bit sleepy, sometimes terrifying… at other times very depressive, full of pessimism as well as doubt… Of course, there is no lack of aggression and rebellion here…

It is clearly, the band composes with the spirit of nowadays, mixing various musical genres. Recently, such an approach has become fashionable, especially to the “progressive” combination of arrangements… Post-Rock with Shoegaze and Black Metal (among other things, the trend called Blackgaze was created from this). But it’s not such simple. And HEIDEN did it great!

HEIDEN still maintains Czech lyrics that bring originality, but I think they severely limit the expansion of HEIDEN’s music. The music is very ambitious and the English language would open the door to Europe and beyond.

“Andzjel” is definitely the most mature and best album of the band. May it not be their one-time prank.

Tracklist:
1. Nevěřím těm očím (I don’t trust those eyes)
2. V hodině vlka (In the hour of the wolf)
3. Musím ti tolik říct (I have so much to tell you)
4. Září (September)
5. Sviť, měsíčku, jasno (Shine, moon, clear)
6. Běsů se nezbavíš (You won’t get rid of rages)
7. Patřím sem (I belong here)

Line-up:
Einsk – drums
Kverd – vocals, guitar
Tom – guitar
Werlinga – keyboards

Rate: 9.0/10