Saturday, 28 March 2015

Heaving Earth - Denouncing the Holy Throne

HEAVING EARTH - Denouncing the Holy Throne (LAVADOME - CD 2015)
Do you know which are my favourite Czech death metal bands? No, it’s not Krabathor, although I do like them also. But my favourites are Brutally Deceased and Heaving Earth. And I mention both, as they share some members, so there’s some connection between them and surely a high quality, killer death metal came from both also. I got to know Heaving Earth years ago thanks to their “Vision of the Vultures” demo CDR and later I also managed to find “Diabolic Prophecies” album (released on Polish label Redrum) and split tape with Altars, all really awesome pieces of crushing brutal death metal. Finally after some years of break, Heaving Earth returns with their second full length attack, titled “Denouncing the Holy Throne” and released through Lavadome Productions. And damn, this is another impressive recording from Heaving Earth! And one, which I was really looking forward to hear. 
But even before I heard any sounds from this music, I was already impressed by the artwork for “Denouncing the Holy Throne”. Wow, it’s done by Marco Hasmann, who also did covers for such bands like Fleshgod Apocalypse and Cerebral Effusion, as well as he did the artwork for Heaving Earth’s previous album). But what a fine and detailed picture he made this time, I am really impressed, also with the whole booklet, filled with beautiful black and white photographs of cemeteries and religious (christian) objects. What I like the most is that they – both pictures and the objects – seem to be old, like in ruins, abandoned, forgotten… this speaks for itself perfectly and also match the title of the album. You just can’t expect a happy music and optimistic message from it (ha, such title as “Jesus Died” can’t say more about it!). But a quality music, yes for sure!
Maybe it’s a bit hurting to Heaving Earth, but the main influence on their music is quite easily audible. Also because two members wear this band’s t-shirts haha! I am talking about the masters of US death metal, Immolation! Yes, for me they are the main comparison, which I would make, if wanted to describe you Heaving Earth music. But it’s not a sole influence, obviously, as it’s classic US death metal in general, with Morbid Angel, Monstrosity, Divine Rapture, Vital Remains, Chaos Inception, Nile, Hate Eternal… More so, I can hear some similarities to Mithras, and it’s not because Leon Macey mixed and mastered the album, but because both bands have exactly the same influences and in the end such “Forever Advancing… Legions” and “Denouncing the Holy Throne” are quite alike to each other. Anyways, I guess it is clear what you should expect after “Denouncing the Holy Throne”. It’s just killer, high quality brutal, quite technical, but dark and sinister death metal! The album is filled with blasts, sheer, straight forward fragments, which will nail you to the ground and then there’re also quite many slower, massively heavy pieces, which will make sure you never get up and just crush you into the disgusting and putrid pile of meat, blood and bones. If it’s either a faster track like “The Final Crowning” or a slower bulldozer like “Worms of Rusted Congregation”, it’s always simply awesome! I like these shredding guitars, killer riffs, impressive leads… Really a lot is going on in every song, but luckily the music doesn’t feel like it’s too complex or too technical…
On top of everything I already written, I must also mention the superb production of “Denouncing the Holy Throne”, which is just spotless. I like the guitar sound, the drums… the vocals also… all instruments were perfectly played, so the performance of each Heaving Earth member is very good. So, I can’t imagine that this album will perish in the pile of other death metal releases. It just can’t happen. So, maniacs of the bands I mentioned in this review – don’t waste your time and get Heaving Earth right now!!!
Standout tracks: “Worms of Rusted Congregation”, “The Final Crowning”, “I am Nothing”, “Jesus Died”

Final rate: 70/100

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