For as long as heavy metal has been around, from AC/DC and Black Sabbath, to Metallica and Slayer, to Lorna Shore and Behemoth, there has always been a sort of contest to see who can be the most extreme, the darkest and most brutal; blacker than the blackest black times infinity.  For This Gift is a Curse, that ethos has driven all of their sludgy, blackened hardcore releases, going back almost twenty years at this point, but on Heir they may have achieved their darkest, most brutal and least accessible album yet, for better or worse.

Formed in 2008 in Stockholm by vocalist Jonas Holmberg and drummer Johan Nordlund, with a lineup that has remained unchanged since then aside from the addition of second guitarist David Derivian eight years later, the now-quintet have been blurring the lines of genre and aesthetic in an attempt to make the bleakest and most evil music on the planet.  Heir, their fourth full length release, is the culmination of years of live grinding and studio work towards the most extreme music these bodies are capable of making.  And you know what?  It definitely works.  Not being familiar with This Gift is a Curse (henceforth TGIAC), I would say confidently that this is not what I was expecting, but it does fit the prompt to a t.  The riffs here are menacing, and when they say their sound is “blackened,” they truly mean it.  The guitars are dissonant and eerie, wailing and crunchy, always doing something interesting, even in the subtle background of the ten songs that make up Heir.  The layers of melodies and riffs built up on tracks like “No Sun, Nor Moon” capture the vibes of the glory days of Behemoth like not even Behemoth have managed to do recently.  Similarly, Holmberg’s vocals are intense and in-your-face, with lyrics that feature heavy repetition, which adds to the catchiness of the songs despite how aggressive they are.  Honestly, listening to Heir leaves me with the feeling of being drenched in spit, as if Holmberg is standing right in front of me.  The aesthetic is definitely there, and for the most part, the musical chops keep pace with the vibes.

My problem with Heir, as is the problem with most things that bill themselves as a hardcore mix, is that I find myself wanting for a little bit more of the hardcore.  Perhaps this is a function of me not being overly familiar with the band, but I’m having a hard time picking anything out of the mishmash other than “blackened.”  The promo says for fans of Trap Them and All Pigs Must Die, so I guess I get that, but can a brother get a d-beat?  Can I get a gallop or something, please?  At least the sludge is a little more present on tracks like “Void Bringer” and “Cosmic Voice.”  At first, I thought the jarring changes in dynamics that happen in those songs and “Kingdom” were a bit too sudden and too much, but repeat listens have endeared those parts to me much more than when I first experienced Heir.  I still think the transitions could have been smoother, but I see what TGIAC were doing, and it’s undeniable that the synths on “Cosmic Voice” are very, very cool.  My only other issue with Heir is the combination of atmosphere and runtime; it’s a very dense record with a lot to take in, wrapped in a very punishing and unfriendly package, and it still clocks in at over an hour.  I find myself listening to Heir in punctuated bursts over sustained sessions, and I think that’s a shame.  There’s a fatigue that sets in about three-quarters of the way through the album that I can’t avoid, despite how much I like what I’m hearing.

Ultimately, Heir is a solid release, but one that I think suffers from the bloat of too many good ideas all thrown in the pot at once.  It is an interesting, if punishing, listen though, and it’s for sure worth checking out.  How much will I go back to it?  Well, it is already proving worth repeated listens, so perhaps more than even I think.  Judge for yourself and see.

— Ian

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Heir is available now on Season of Mist.  For more information on This Gift is a Curse, visit their official website.