ALBUM REVIEW: Incised Arrival – Herxheim

Texas based blackened death metallers HERXHEIM may have only formed in 2017, but they’ve managed to make a significant impact in a short period of time. Their debut demo, Cultivating Throne of Fur, provided a rabid and savage take on blackened death upon its initial release back in March 2019, establishing the one man act as a force to be reckoned with. Their debut album, Incised Arrival, sees the band’s sound begin to tighten up, shedding some of the raw and murky elements that defined their demo, without sacrificing any of the intensity or atmosphere.

Wanton of Idols is a really strong start to the record, with a bleak, atmospheric intro building towards great, groove-laden slab of blackened death with robust guitars, bellicose vocals and thunderous drums, with a haunting ambience offsetting the intensity somewhat and adding a powerful edge to the music. Add to this a cavernous bass sound, and you’ve got an excellent opener that is fierce and grand in equal measure.

Lesson Crescent adopts a grating tone and a much more rabid and fast approach, with the drums and guitars especially possessing a slightly chaotic side that helps to elevate this song no end. There’s still plenty of impressive, bombastic flourishes that lend an immersive quality to this song, taking the best of the previous song and injecting a more visceral sound to it. Branded By Pentagram really up the ante with regards to the heady, dramatic elements in the sound, with prominent keys peppering this song with some brilliant, engrossing moments and aiding the more measured, rhythmic music on offer. There’s some well placed, and effective, guitar hooks that provide a little melody to the proceedings, which marks this out as one of the album’s stand out tracks.

Chateaux Delirium sees the magnificent, sludgy bass come to the fore once again, providing a monstrous undercurrent for the sharp, acidic vocals and thick, oppressive guitar sound, giving this song a ferocious and bestial aspect that it’s hard not to love. Jumping seamlessly between crawling passages and much more cacophonous, bestial ones, it’s an eclectic mix of all the components that make this bands sound so mesmerising. Eve’s Rampike acts as a short piece of music, centred around sparse guitar and bass parts and a snarling, arid vocal line, setting the stage for the final track, Warrior Master Lore, extremely well; this relatively steady track has a huge sound, in no small part due to the depth of the guitar and bass tone, with more percussive drumming giving this a primal feel. The denser guitar sound makes all of the riffs on display here seem far more impactful, and when the music suddenly takes a darker, more speed-driven approach in the songs closing minutes, it practically blows the listener away at points. It’s a solid track that brings the album to a close on a great note.

It’s great that the likes of I, Voidhanger and Nuclear War Now! have decided to put this album out in a physical format, because this style deserves to reach a wider audience. Not only does it carve out a much different path than the majority of acts who play in this style, opting for the darker, bleaker production of black metal to give it a sepulchral quality, but it also makes great use of some powerful atmospheric flourishes that make all the music on offer far more immersive than it would have been if the whole thing had an incredibly polished sound. With any luck, with this album finally being available on CD and vinyl, far more people will be able to hear and appreciate HERXHEIM and this album, because it’s a great example of how well blackened death metal can work if it embraces its murkier, more dramatic side.

Rating: 8/10

Incised Arrival is out now via I, Voidhanger Records.