ALBUM REVIEW: Voyance – Hegemone
We could probably waste a fair bit of time debating whether HEGEMONE are more of a black metal band or a post-metal band, but there really wouldn’t be much point. The band themselves certainly don’t seem to care, preferring instead to sit in that fruitful middle ground that has already produced a fair few killer records in the year so far. Eager to add their names to a list currently topped by the likes of WAKE and WHITE WARD, the Polish four-piece forge forward with their third full-length album Voyance, out this Thursday via their new home of Brucia Records.
As you might expect from that set-up, or indeed if you heard the band’s well-received sophomore effort We Disappear, HEGEMONE aren’t all that easy to squeeze into a box. Beyond their aforementioned roots in black and post-metal, the band draw happily and heavily from the realms of sludge, hardcore and death metal too, with the latter coming to the fore most of all in some of the apocalyptic gutturals that trade off so grippingly with the higher and more anguished deliveries that take prominence on the record. Clearly not short on ambition, Voyance is a work of striking, dynamic power that offers much for listeners to immerse themselves in across its seven tracks and 50 minutes.
With a weighty if somewhat generic concept exploring the existence or non-existence of God, Voyance provides a fittingly grandiose soundtrack to the band’s search for answers. Opener Nourishment comes in thick and heavy; a world-ending guttural vocal sitting atop a crashing wave of suffocating sludge. Sprawling across a seven-and-a-half-minute runtime, it sets out the stall for much of the record to follow, moving through sections of sweeping blackened expanse, pulsating and throbbing electronics, melodic vocal chants, and even a bit of folksy percussion towards the track’s hypnotic end. It all holds together brilliantly too, united by an inescapable sense of bleakness that remains very much a theme for the record as a whole.
If anything though, Voyance only gets bigger and better as it goes on. Fourth track Sermon stands out as something of a centrepiece, its near-ten-minute runtime rich with the kind of dynamic ebb and flow CULT OF LUNA would be proud of. Similar comparisons carry into subsequent track Abeyance, albeit still with a decidedly more blackened edge, with this one and the particularly feral Inference which follows both leading listeners ably towards album closer After Demise. Tasked with bringing a record of this stature to a suitable climax, this final track does so majestically, its thunderous riffs, scorching vocals and sweeping synths eventually fading to allow for a final minute or so of textural reflection.
Probably the only nitpick here is that it may take listeners a moment or two to get used to the production. Given that their roots lie at least partly in a genre known for some of the absolute worst mixing jobs you’ve ever heard, it would be absurd to knock HEGEMONE too severely for this though. Voyance still sounds and feels powerful, and it’s often suitably icy in particular, it’s just that when held to the standards exemplified by some of the bands mentioned above, this album can feel a little washier and rougher round the edges at points.
That’s hardly worth dwelling on though; it’s certainly nothing a few listens won’t rectify, and given the weight and depth of what the band have to offer here, most should oblige willingly. Voyance is an expansive, elemental and invariably arresting record that never wastes the reasonably hefty chunk of your time it asks for. It’s easy to get lost in the world HEGEMONE create here, and no doubt this album will make even more sense to revisit as the nights begin to draw in and the days grow colder.
Rating: 8/10
Voyance is set for release on September 15th via Brucia Records.
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