Hereza - "I Become Death" (Godz ov War Productions, 2017)

Band: Hereza
Title: I Become Death
Genre: Death/Thrash Metal
Year: 13th February 2017
Time: 29 min circa
Rating: 80/100













If I remember correctly, I think Hereza is the very first band from Croatia reviewed by me. And I have to say that, as first time into the extreme Croatian metal scene, I have started truly well. In fact, Hereza have released a devastating second album entitled "I Become Death" under the auspices of the excellent Polish label Godz ov War Prod, that recently is appearing often on these pages, so expect a nice interview to its owner Greg Rosensthal for the next weeks to come!

Well, "I Become Death" is an album that you have to listen to in one fatal breath also because it lasts only 29 minutes circa for a music full of impact and also some surprising influences. The sound of Hereza is a sort of relentless and wicked death metal inspired by both old and new school (for example, hear some very modern breakdowns here and there) of the genre. But all this is made more intense by frequent thrash metal influences, clear and predominant into headbanging songs like the short "Neplodna Jama" (only almost 2 minutes of assault) and "Pošast", so Hereza can be considered without problems as a death/thrash metal band. In addition, you can find, throughout the album, also scrapping incursions into the apocalyptic crust punk (e.g. "Homo Homini Lupus Est")  , and without forgetting some stormy black metal influences (an example of this is given by the same titletrack).

In a certain sense, "I Become Death" is divided between two distinct sides, and the second one show you better what Hereza are able because, in it, there is a very big variety. At this point, yet said about "Neplodna Jama" and "Pošast", there is need to mention now "Full Moon Slaughter", that mixes the classic ferocity of the band with guitar parts which reminds to me of the melodic death metal. Then, there is "Torn from the Death's Bed", an heavy and short mid-tempo useful to break for a while the tons of violence throughout the album. And finally, it ends with "Tombcrawler", a number characterized by a very atmospheric intro with clean guitars before to attack with an assault full of Swedish death metal influences. Instead, the first side (slightly inferior than the second one) of "I Become Death" shows a more uniform and blasting sound.

For the rest, the vocal department of Hereza consist of powerful growls like the US Death metal school wants, alternated here and there with some screams. Instead, the solo guitars are very rare ("In the Name of God","Pošast" and "Tombcrawler" ) and, curiously, they are played almost all by the guest Denis Sloboda, that's the same man that produced "I Become Death". But, from what I understand from a post on the FB page of the band, behind the drums there is no drummer but a drum-machine and I have to say that, also if I hate it with all my heart, it was programmed very well in order to give to the listeners the impression to be played by a real drummer. Well done!

In short, we are in presence of a very good band that loves to play with a devastating impact but without forgetting to vary its own sound through various interesting solutions, so to avoid to lead the listeners towards an abyssal boredom. In addition, there is need to say that Hereza shot even the videoclips for the songs  "Uništi, pali, ruši" (you can watch it above here; this one is particularly effective because of its crudeness and war scenes) and "Jebem vas u usta ladna" (below). Finally, through that recent FB post mentioned before, I read that this duo of pissed-off Croatians have announced that they are working now on their third album together, for the first time, with a real drummer. And do you know who he is? He is Conny Pettersson, the drummer of the Swedish band Anata, as discovered some posts after! So, they will be 3 albums in 4 years: sure, Hereza are very untiring guys!

And now, feel free to donate some money to Timpani allo Spiedo 'zine through the PayPal button that you can find on this blog. Thank you very much!

Tracklist:

1 - I Become Death
2 - Jebem vas u usta ladna
3 - Homo Homini Lupus Est
4 - Uništi, pali, ruši
5 - In the Name of God
6 - Full Moon Slaughter
7 - Neplodna Jama
8 - Torn from the Death's Bed
9 - Pošast
10 - Tombcrawler

Line-up:

Ivan Kovacevic - vocals
Slobodan Stupar - guitars/bass/drums/backing vocals

BandCamp: https://hereza.bandcamp.com/
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/herezametalband/
Godz ov War Prod: http://godzovwar.com/