HERESIARCH – edifice LP black

lim. gatefold black vinyl to 400 copies

For over 15 years now, New Zealand’s HERESIARCH have patiently crafted a body of work that has come to transcend their early influences. Though lineups have shifted during that time, led by founding vocalist N.H. and enhanced by guitarist C.S. in 2013, HERESIARCH have wisely taken their time with recordings and prized quality over quantity. The band’s debut album, Death Ordinance, arrived in 2017 after a trio of savage short-lengths. A new rhythm section took root following that album’s release, and a couple splits in the ensuing years honed their doomed ‘n’ barbaric sound into something more molten and ominous.

And now arrives that megaton payload of devastation, HERESIARCH’s second album, elegantly titled Edifice. If there were any doubts that the band were but yet another toneless ‘n’ tired “war metal” troupe, the New Zealanders trounce any and all trepidation with exceptionally seismic songwriting. Here on Edifice, the parameters of HERESIARCH’s sound – death metal muscle, black metal atmosphere, grindcore aggression – are all in devastating harmony, creating a hydra-headed beast that betrays a wealth of true-yet-twisted ideas. More than just safely evading easy categorization (which is often mere doublespeak for “pleasing all constituents”), the quartet lay bare a landscape of texture titanic in its heft and foreboding in its effect, seamlessly winding through minefields both sonic and psychic and eventually culminating in a grandiose two-part finale in the equally compellingly titled “Hubris and Decline” and “Militate Pyrric Collapse.” For sure, HERESIARCH sound as martial as ever, but the lava now flows in palatably unique ways, all without compromising their core aesthetic. Indeed, one could say they’ve finally found order through chaos.

The possibilities of life’s destruction are endless for those who wander before HERESIARCH’s Edifice.

Tracks:

1. Forged Doctrine
2. Manifest Odium
3. Noose Above the Abyss
4. Gloryless Execution
5. Tides of Regression
6. A World Lit Only by Fire
7. Swarming Blight
8. Mystic and Chaos
9. Hubris and Decline
10. Militate Pyrrhic Collapse

Genres: Black Metal, Death Metal