Passing Through Pain...

Hesperian Death Horse - Živ (2018)

When we last heard from the Croatian group of Hesperian Death Horse, the year was 2014, and they'd not only done a concept split with fellow Croats Hazarder (on the theme of Nikola Tesla), but also released their first full-length album. Now that they've returned, they've revealed that said first album (Mrtav) was actually the first part of a concept album trilogy, starting with death and ending with birth. Živ is the step between those extremes, with the title translating to 'life,' and featuring (like Mrtav) four songs, each bearing a subtitle. Živ is also a bit shorter than that first album, but considering that relative durations of life and death, that seems appropriate.

With a deep and brooding atmosphere combining doom's weight with blackened virulence, the music grows in creeping fashion, moving through passages of slow-moving heaviness and faster aggression (kind of like life, you may be thinking). The synthesis of the two produces some great tension and stirring melodic developments, and the sections which cycle a riff while gradually escalating the harshness really bring the emotional thrust to bear with finesse. HDH find an impressive amount of range and material to be drawn from the interaction of the two styles, and while the length of the album makes it prime for vinyl issuing (fingers crossed), it's also likely to leave you hungry for more. Of course, that's much preferable to having too much piled on, so cheers to the Croatian crew for the excellent album, and here's hoping it's not quite so long until the last piece of the trilogy is set upon the world.

~ Gabriel

For Fans Of; Heavydeath, Mamaleek, Open Tomb, Ulver, WarHorse

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Liv (Part 4: Horde) (320 kbps)

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Ready To Ride...

Hesperian Death Horse - Mrtav (2013)

Hesperian Death Horse's debut album is a sprawling affair, with four track that add up to nearly an hour's worth of violent, nasty, chew-your-own-arm-off black metal, sludge, and doom. A significant portion of the material plays with post-rock conventions, though they're careful to never let it slide into the self-indulgence that plagues so much of that material; instead, they keep it tightly-focused, employing the quiet and melodic interludes just to make the rest of it seem that much more dangerous.

Despite the acerbic nature of the music, there's also a surprising lushness to it, thanks to the time and effort put into it through every step of its creation. Listening to it, you can appreciate how much they must have labored over getting the arrangement and production just right, and that attention to detail pays off in spades, even as they howl and thunder through the tracks. This group from Croatia has an enormous talent for balancing the violent, gritty side of their music with the smoother, more subdued side, but even better, they put that talent to work to elevate the music, instead of building the songs around a bunch of 'look what I can do' gimmickry, as a lesser band might be tempted to do.

Really, I don't feel as though I can say enough good things about the work put into this album, so I'll just say that it's fantastic work, it's an incredible debut, I'm desperate for this to get a physical release so that I can import a copy, and leave it at that, at least until they roll out their next album.  Damn good stuff.

~ Gabriel

For Fans Of; Earthling, Black Magician, Amort, Bell Witch, Ulver

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Hesperian Death Horse - Décès (Part 2:Palež) (320 kbps)

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Serbian Hell Sizzles...

Hazarder / Hesperian Death Horse - The Electric Wizard (2014)

This split doubles as a tribute to the Serbian scientist Nikola Tesla (whose surname is used for both tracks), so it's fitting that it comes from a record label in his homeland, though both of the contributing bands are from the neighboring country of Croatia. Hazarder's side of the split is a thick and sludgy (but up-tempo) cloud of noise, heaving to and fro like a ship caught in a magnetized storm, with the drums providing thunderclaps, an electrical sizzling provided by the guitar, and the vocals serving as ominous rumblings of further violence.

Hesperian Death Horse's side begins with a quick jolt of piano-driven melody, before introducing agonized black metal vocals into the proceedings. From there, it's a slow, crushing grind of sound, like a steamroller turning skulls and skeletons into pavement. It's nasty-sounding and virulent in all the right ways, and they shift through a number of modes in the nine minutes of their Tesla track, packing violence and agony into every moment. Hats off to both bands, and their excellent, abrasive work, and here's hoping that PMK Records gives this a physical release in the near future.

~ Gabriel

For Fans Of; Moloch, Hate, Open Tomb, Earthling, Weapon

Hazarder's Facebook • Hesperian Death Horse's Facebook • Hazarder's BandCamp • Hesperian Death Horse's BandCamp • PMK Records' BandCamp 

Hazarder - Tesla (320 kbps)

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