Part of why I decided to give Heathen Heretic a go is the contrast of the name. A heathen is generally seen as outside of a faith; a heretic, by definition, is within one. Subconsciously, I wanted to see whether this was a band that shoved together elements that sounded cool without thought, or whether there was a more deliberate philosophy at work. The other part of hitting play on Whispers from the Abyss is that Heathen Heretic are touted as playing blackened melodic death metal, and as the resident melodeath hating melodeath lover, I can’t help myself from searching for a whisper of something good in that abyss.
Heathen Heretic are definitely as advertised. Most of what they play is the guitar dominated, catchy, beefed up trad-thrash with growls that melodeath fans know and love. There are hints of something more vicious and antisocial, as with the black metal leaning “Melancholy” or the pummeling intro of “Into The Black Forest”. That song builds very pleasantly into a very Insomnium-esque riff that tempers that aggression though, and that in general is typical of Heathen Heretic. This is a good thing to me and the balance of violent intentions and more emotional melodicism is a strength of Whispers from the Abyss. Heathen Heretic are heavier and more engaging than most melodeath bands, and their use of the softer, gentler end of the genre too, such as the goth inflected “Unholy Light”, helps accentuate that. The use of the genre’s whole palette keeps me happy through the whole of Whispers from the Abyss‘ runtime, despite often finding songs blending into each other
In other words, Heathen Heretic have talent and intriguing ideas, but something is not quite clicking for me here. They write good melodies but their songs lack that vital cohesion, those grand moments, that turn happy into holy shit. The many elements of Whispers from the Abyss entertain, but don’t come together to form something that sticks. Heathen Heretic are fun to listen to and better than most melodeath bands currently cluttering up the abyss, but after the album ends, there’s a frustration that they’re not more and I doubt this is be one of the releases there that I’ll be revisiting later.
