Hetroertzen - Uprising Of The Fallen album review

Despite earlier incarnations exhibiting a claustrophobic repetition akin to Mystifier, Sweden-relocated Chileans Hetroertzen bear very little stylistic relation to the bareknuckle rawness associated with the South American scene. But if 2010’s Exaltation Of Wisdom exemplified black metal’s sonic thrust and 2014’s Ain Soph Aur brought in an expansive range of new dynamics, at first listen, their latest album feels like a step back. Murkier, musically more bolted down in its imperious sermonising, Uprising Of The Fallen accumulates power rather than expends it, all but shorn of the cathartic bursts of yore. What it does illustrate, however, is the ever-more porous membrane between black metal and the more occult realms of death metal. Zealous Procreation may cross paths with Secret Of The Moon’s cataclysm-bracing squall, but heads into churning depths frequented by The Ruins Of Beverast, while Frater D’s guttural vocals echo through the dank chasms of Path Bearer. But throughout, Hetroertzen generate an atmosphere that grows in potency irrespective of which direction they’re headed.