Shoegaze and metal are two genres whose only real similarities are the racket they cause. But the dourness of shoegaze intertwines most comfortably with the grimness and depressive atmospheres of black metal. Henceforth, a new subgenre arose: depressive rock. Heretoir are an obscure one man band from Germany and an example of what's good and bad about this type of music; an album that is brimming with dark atmosphere and melody, but is underwhelming in it's effect.
If you go into this album expecting a cold, raging blizzard beast, then you will be disappointed. The over all mood is an epic strain of melancholy, meandering in slow to mid-tempos, and even when it blasts into more familiar black metal territory, the tones are muted. The first song, 'Fatigue', epitomizes this approach, starting out with echo draped clean vocals, before blasting you with icy shrieks. 'Retreat To Hibernate' is a mostly mellow affair, with a sense of rage and desolation gradually building to wonderful effect. To follow the sun is the shoegaze drenched epic, beginning with muted black metal tremolo, and surprising you with crazed, dreamy female vocals, before shambling into melancholy again. But these are the best tunes, as the rest of the album is an unmemorable ramble.
Lyrically, this album is sung in English and German. It it's apparent that English is the second language here, as some of the English lyrics are rather awkward and appear to make up words:
"Dissany,
esperance in isolation.
Cold hands clutching at
something that is gone."
There are bands that do this sort of thing better, like Lifelover, Katatonia and later period Xasthur. Gotta admit, this stuff kind of grows on you, but I myself prefer my metal more caustic and cathartic.
Rating: 6 out of 10
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