ALBUM REVIEW: Distant Fires – Heiress

Like many great bands, Seattle’s HEIRESS have never been easy to pigeonhole. Injecting doom-laden sludge metal with a forward-thinking post-hardcore intensity, they’ve shared bills with artists as varied as EYEHATEGOD, CAVE IN and HOT WATER MUSIC. They don’t really sound like any of those though, and especially not the latter. If anything, they draw more natural comparisons to the world-ending post-metal of bands like ISIS and NEUROSIS. Distant Fires is their fourth full-length, and their first since 2016’s Made Wrong. Largely picking up where they left off, it’s another weighty and dynamic record, one of impressive craft and maturity.

Thematically, Distant Fires is something of a search for hope, or in the band’s own words, “a personal plea for guidance.” It’s a timely theme, but that wasn’t particularly intentional, with the idea conceived of before many of the world’s most recent shitstorms. As searches for hope go however, HEIRESS don’t seem to find much here. Right from the album’s very first moments, it’s clear this is a bleak, crushing record. Opener All Ends thunders straight in, its apocalyptic riffing setting the scene for the seven tracks which follow it. The production is thick and suffocating, with the song finding heaviness in its atmosphere as much as in its instrumentation.

It’s this atmosphere which helps tie the record together even as it ranges far and wide in its musical content. Second track Collides for example takes a more downbeat approach, with sparse clean guitars sitting atop steady, ponderous drumming. It’s still intensely bleak and despondent, but in a more mournful sense than as anything particularly raging. It rolls straight into Once Was – a firm highlight which arguably unites the varied stylings of the preceding tracks. It’s an especially dynamic offering, with more clean guitar-driven moments interspersing eruptions of glacial groove.

Further tying things together on Distant Fires is the performance of vocalist John Pettibone. Blessed with a bellow that would make Scott Kelly proud, Pettibone presides over these eight tracks with an unwavering fury. Naturally, this works well in the record’s most intense moments, but it can also be just as striking when the band’s weightier sludge takes a backseat. Helpfully for the chronological discussion of tracks we’ve had so far, the album’s fourth – Beyond Devotions – actually proves this well. This one’s another doomy, dynamic cut, with Pettibone’s screams adding a devastating ache to quieter and louder sections alike. Like much of the record, its lyrical subject matter hits hard too, with Pettibone’s cry of “I know it’s not enough” ushering in a final few moments of gut-punching crush.

While hardly a severe criticism, it is worth acknowledging that Distant Fires can feel a bit long on first listen. It’s only 44 minutes, but even amid its impressive dynamism, it is still consistently oppressive and bleak. That said, at no point should this record have you willing it to end. It certainly works best as a complete work, with several tracks flowing directly into one another as if to emphasise this. The quality never really drops either, and the second half of the record maintains a similarly high standard to the first.

Coming after a significantly longer wait than the year that separated Made Wrong and Of Great Sorrow, Distant Fires marks an impressive return for HEIRESS. One could even argue that it’s their finest work to date. This is a focused, cohesive record from a band who’ve clearly spent a long time honing their craft. It may not make for the most uplifting listen, but if there is any justice in the world it should at least elevate HEIRESS onto the radars of anyone looking for forward-thinking music made with genuine heart and passion.

Rating: 8/10

Distant Fires is set for release on December 3rd via Satanik Royalty Records.

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