Author: Sandi Sadar Šoba
Artist: Heretic
Label: Self-released
Released: 2012
Length: 31:47
Rating: 4/5
At a time when everybody’s grabbing for the groove recipe, pouring a bit of thrash and metalcore into the stew and selling it as something unique, it’s hard to separate the wheat from the chaff. Still, among the tons of crap you can find something potent and damn tasty. You don’t have to look beyond our borders for proof, either, just in some hamlet that’s exotic from Ljubljana’s point of view. Heretic are a textbook case of why you shouldn’t judge music by its cover or its birthplace, but give it time to prove itself in your ears. This time the new chapter of Slovenian music turns beyond the Trojane milestone, to Slovenske Konjice, where Heretic have been thundering since 2011. After the lineup finally settled, it was time to crystallize ideas and put in the hard work, and the product, after just a year of grinding, is the very solid record New Era.
As the youngsters put it, this is about reflecting on and pouring their life experiences onto a musical medium, and since we live in times of frustration, anger and discontent, every single beat of the record hits home. After a long time, it was a proper depilatory balm for my soul. I admit, I’m a fan of the more melodic kind of aggression, with the Swedish end of the spectrum among my favorites, and Heretic add some typically American herbs and spices to those influences, which can win over plenty of fans of coordinated tension release in the neck area. This is certainly not reinventing the wheel, but it’s true that these Slovenian lads have come a long way in their take on thrash core since the primal outpourings of the original bands from the turn of the millennium. New Era is a record that starts predictably with a fade-in of two really melodic guitars, since this kind of music is built on a crushing wall of distortion. Marko and Rok have obviously done their homework on The Haunted, Lamb Of God, God Forbid and Lazarus A.D., and more than the impressive guitar passages, which stir up the passions with melodic slides and by no means bore you with endless soloing, what grabs your attention, besides Tilen’s polished drum attack, is Sebastijan’s vocal, which damn well reminds me of Peter Dolving. The just-exciting-enough intro of Victim Of Endless Lust grows into the rEVOLVEr-fire stampede of Break On Pressure. Social injustice has left an undeniable recession stamp, which the youth, with no real prospect of prosperity, radiates in a murderous hunt for realism and honesty. Heretic damn well pull it off, and every fan of heavier, but by no means dissonant or grating sounds can graze their ears on what they hear. It’s not about swearing on the bible of disobedience, and Heretic keep their polished stampede going with a track with a rather trivial title – Mind Fuck. God Forbid come to the fore completely spontaneously. There’s plenty of tension building with breaks, and thrash core spews from every pore of this pretty stuffed set of riffs, solos and vocal excesses. Production-wise, the record is comparable to the work of the infamous Machine, and the steel grip doesn’t loosen even in the more melodic Paradox Of Insanity. I won’t judge whether every single note is homegrown and truly their own, but I did hear something similar from a whole range of bands who know what they’re doing. The catchy chorus and the duets, where the melodic line turns into a vocal outburst of guttural longing to scream out every atom of air soaked in rage, drive a megalomaniacal train of passion against all obstacles and tear down prejudice.
Judging by the melodicism, we’ve reached the dividing line. You Are Fake is an exhibitionist moment where Heretic wade into extreme territory, let’s call it pussy core. But not at any cost. A lot of generic predictability is well tailored here for carefree surrender to the rhythm and a story about fake words and faces, both from the small screens and from everyday life. For many, the recipe for success is putting on a foreign image and being something they’re not, and Heretic condemn that in a, tellingly, way that gave wings and lift to bands like As I Lay Dying and the rest of the cloned specimens of melodic metalcore rage. That’s how at least my pair of ears hears it, but let’s leave the final verdicts aside for now. The melodicism keeps climbing with a track made for a party in front of the stage. Drink Fight Fuck is a juvenile moment of teenage rebellion that the guys could easily have left off the record, at least judging by the title and the basic message, but then what would be left on the disc? Bands from our neck of the woods were obviously on the radar too, and Celje’s Last Day Here show up on Heretic’s playlists every now and then.
The closing stretch is thus more promising, and the big finale is heralded by the outstanding Dead Eyes Don’t Lie, a track that a whole legion of old-school fighters who once played around Peter Dolving could sign off on. Nice, no doubt, and the memory of golden-era moments turns once more into a slightly more melodic climb up the ladder of extreme heights. The sexy charge doesn’t fade, even as the last moments of this pretty beefed-up record mercilessly run out. You also get some more explicit solo playing off between the two guitars, and the longest solo on the record turns nicely into a hellish finale. Devil’s Throat is the cherry on top, bringing a tear to the eye of anyone who longs for a soundtrack to smashing the family crystal and china. It’s not a track DevilDriver would write, but in the manner of the new American gospel, whose bearers include the outstanding Lazarus A.D., it’s an expertly executed string of punchy shortcuts that feel damn good in the ears. The guitar duo gives weight to the whole, the center of gravity of the entire record, and the outstanding vocal of guttural Sebastijan brings the compositional whole of eight excellent tracks to a happy ending with a big bang. Just the outro left, and the first story, the first chapter, the first record of the promising five-piece from Slovenske Konjice is irrevocably over, and all you can say is: »Hats off, guys!«
New Era is a sexy little record that brings some elan back to the Slovenian core scene, which has gone a bit flat lately, and after my first contact I got what counts – an elevated pulse and the conviction that we can bet on these guys in the future too. Not everything is original and homegrown, but nobody expected that from bearers of a sound that has already damn well worn itself out over a decade and a half of existence. Even though the debut is here, I’d still urge the band not to lose this tension and drive to work, because you can’t sleep comfortably and for long on old laurels. Either way, the quintet, a pentagram of Slovenian craftsmanlike polished rhymesters and excellent musicians, can pat themselves on the back and admit they nailed the big throw on the first try, and how lasting the success story turns out to be depends on the follow-ups and on proving themselves on stage. New Era is a great send-off for the latter, and the studio deflowering can also be a turning point for building up the already good and quality work. Bravo!
Lineup
Marko Hlastec – guitar
Sebastjan Založnik – vocals
Tilen Marzidošek – drums
Rok Satler – guitar
Klemen Ribič – bass
Production
Lorenzo Antonucci & Heretic
Tracklist
- Victim Of Endless Lust
- Break On Pressure
- Mind Fuck
- Paradox Of Insanity
- You Are Fake
- Drink Fight Fuck
- Dead Eyes Don’t Lie
- Devil’s Throat
- Outro
