(written by Islander)
Gaze upon the cover art for Henere‘s new album The Chosen Path and you’ll begin to get a sense of the music, through the artwork’s portrayal of ice and snow, of ancient battle-death and looming peaks, of dark clouds and strange spiraling brilliance. The music itself conjures those same visions, and more, as you’ll discover today through our premiere of a song from the album named “Winds of Eldritch North” in advance of the record’s co-release by Void Wanderer Productions (Netherlands) and War Productions (Portugal) on September 19th.
For the new album (Henere‘s first full-length following a pair of EPs), founder Wretch (vocalist and multi-instrumentalist) was again joined by guitarist Blood clot and bassist Lament. As the labels describe, this U.S. band’s new music “captures the force and mournful grandeur of black metal shaped by cold winds, ancient myth, and the weight of destiny…. Carefully placed synth passages rise like distant signals through the snow, adding atmosphere without overtaking the storm.”
The labels also offer this description of the new song we’re presenting today: “This is the breath of winter weaponized. A surge of black metal intensity shaped by blizzard and spirit. Henere begins the ascent not in silence, but in violent invocation.”
Forsaking any scene-setting prelude, “Winds of Eldritch North” immediately discharges furiously blasting drums and high-flying music that’s both icy and spectral, accompanied by snarling screams both gritty and vicious. The combination of blizzard-like guitars and swirling synths creates an aura of frightening grandeur, as sweeping as a storm but also astonishing and otherworldly.
The songwriting reveals dynamism through changing moods. The vocals shred themselves with even greater tormented intensity, and the music sounds more desperate. As the drums shift into a rocking gait, a piercing guitar solo seems to cry out in peals of pleading and pain. The drums also vanish and the riffing miserably roils and menacingly sizzles, then seems to boil in agony beneath horrifying shrieks, near-strangled in their intensity.
And so the song does sound like a howling winter storm scathing barren heights, but it’s also a carrier of distressing bleakness, indeed like the presence of dread spirits and of Death in all its endless and heartless immensity.
HENERE:
Wretch – Frostbitten screams, icy keys, drums, vision
Blood clot – Blizzard strings, guitar fire
Lament – Subsonic waves, horns, low-end force
The Chosen Path was mixed and mastered by No Ground Noise. The album artwork was created by Riaj Gargoth. Void Wanderer and War Productions will release it on CD and digitally. They recommend it for fans of Immortal, Dark Fortress, and Drudkh.
PRE-ORDER:
https://voidwanderer.com/product/henere-the-chosen-path-cd-preorder/
https://war-productions.org/product/henere-the-chosen-path/
HENERE:
https://www.instagram.com/henere_usbm
https://henere.bandcamp.com/
VOID WANDERER PRODUCTIONS:
https://www.voidwanderer.com
https://voidwandererproductions.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/voidwandererprod
https://www.instagram.com/voidwandererproductions
WAR PRODUCTIONS:
https://war-productions.org
https://warproductions.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/warproductionspt
https://www.instagram.com/warproductions