Atmospheric black metal crew Heretoir unleash entrancing new single 'Twilight of the Machines'

With its rich, ink-black plethora of weightily pulverising brutality, tremolo-stricken hostility and suffocatingly thick, distortion-drenched atmospherics, extreme metal is certainly no stranger to darkness of a myriad different forms and variants. But while many such artists might be quite capable of dabbling competently in such morbidly entrancing sonic territories, every so often comes that rare breed of band possessed of a staggering evocative power that far surpasses the mundane boundaries of mere entertainment. Those exceptionally gifted musical visionaries whose blistering, eerily transcendental conjurings stir and elevate the human spirit to a place far removed from this weary mortal realm. Which is precisely what Heretoir’s latest, gloriously caustic and ornately layered masterwork of a single does in hauntingly absorbing abundance.

Sourced from entrancing, newly-unleashed opus, ‘Nightsphere’, this multi-faceted array of blackened and bleakly beautiful sonic vibrations finds us instantly submerged in a darkly enveloping netherworld of elegantly unfurling fretwork. With these expansive, sleekly elongated refrains instantly calling to mind the glimmering transcendental majesty of post-black metal icons Alcest, it’s with seamless, balletic grace that these intricately tangled riffs find meticulous placement in amongst gargantuan slabs of tombstone-heavy percussion. Amassing grandiose, hypnotic momentum via these crushingly compelling percussive structures, ‘Twilight of the Machines’ takes ample time to nimbly weave together this impeccably cohesive tapestry of influences.

And while the tricky process of splicing frantically energised lashings of black metal in amongst altogether more subtle and restrained musical dynamics often produces uncomfortably discordant results in less technically adept hands, these practiced performers integrate the two in effortlessly flowing and organic fashion. Paring back volume, pacing and complexity to facilitate fluid transitions across this absorbing array of ever-shifting moods and musical dynamics, theirs is a craft hinged upon carefully manipulated subtlety and restraint. And from pummelling, insanely paced hyperblasts and gnarly, frost-stricken textures through to lusciously cascading crescendos of Katatonia-esque fretwork, ‘Twilight..’ comprises an infinitely moving manifestation of feeling.

Order your copy of 'Nightsphere' now via Bandcamp