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| HEGYRA - Reenactment (2015) |
1. Hegyra is not a newcomer in the local heavy metal scene. The band was formed way back in 2001 with one EP, Indelible Imprint, which was released in 2003, under the bands bullet belt. Now its 2015 and they are back with another opus in the form of a 5 song self released EP called Reenactment. Why it took them so long to release another material? I dont know.
2. Having said that, I gotta be honest here that I am not that familiar with the band or the bands previous work. I
think I might have stumbled or heard about the band somewhere back in the day. Most
probably back when I used to prowl Myspace in the look out for bands to
feature in TheBulletBelt (those days were long gone though). Oh well.
3. I was actually approached by the band wanting to give me a promo/media copy of the CD. Being the good natured supportive guy that I am, I offered to buy it instead. You know, a proviso that if I end up not reviewing the CD, I wouldnt feel so bad about it. Haha.
4. When I first listened to the single, Until The End, on
youtube, I was a bit skeptical with their Melodic Death Metal claim. I
guess, the clean singing and the squeaky clean sound production threw me off balance a bit. Not another one those deathcore douchebags claiming to play "real metal" for credibility. But after a careful (and
repeated) listening session (in order to write this review), there was
indeed no metalcore bullcrap with this one what so ever. Thank you God.Thank you Hegyra.
5. Most of the tracks in Reenactment opened with decent Gothenberg style hooks which remained prevalent through out each and every song. That Soilwork/In Flames/At The Gates influences is extremely heavy in this EP. I have also detected a bit of Anthrax fun moshy thrash riff in the fourth track, Until The End, which was also the main single. It shows that it's not all Gothenberg up in this joint.
6. The vocals were that of a high pitch shriek, a little bit of deep growls here and there and a little bit of clean singing for some of the choruses. The clean singing harmonies were pitch perfect. My favorite track would be The Pain, which was short and on point. I am glad that there are no clean singing in this one.
7. Not saying that I am not a fan of clean singing, because I am, provided that its the right type of voice, the right type of melodies and in a correct type of music (Daarchlea did a good job with this). Melodic Death Metal is just not the type of music that bands should experiment with wimpy clean singing, in my opinion. Then again, that is just my personal taste.
8. If I am tasked to describe their type of music according to my ears, I would say Hegyra plays progressive melodic death metal. The guitar sound is clean. Maybe a little bit too clean for my taste. The riffs were decently Gothenberg enough for those who like this type of music. It just lacks the twin harmonic guitar attack to make it 100% Gothenberg.
9. The solos were okay, I guess. Some were melodic and some were a bit what-the-hell-was-he-thinking-when-he-played-that-Kirk Hammetty guitar solos that doesnt really contribute much to the department of being memorable. But then again, that is based on my personal taste. Some of you out there might end up liking it. Kirk Hammet was only good when Cliff Burton wrote his solos for him anyways.
10. The bass were too low in the mix. Either the bass gelled to much to the riffs or the guitar mix just overpowered the bass mix, either way, it is just unfortunate that I could not really hear the bass. Not saying that it's not there, its just too low. The drums sound was too clean and too clean. When you emphasis too much on the perfection of the sound, the human element of the playing would just went out and lost. Too bad.
11. This is release is not that bad. It's listenable. You just gotta let it creep into you with time. I disliked the EP on my first listen but now, I think, I can appreciate the EP for what it is. A good and solid melodic death metal music. Let us hope that the next release would be a little bit more loose and organic. Oh, guys, lose the clean singing and the crabcore guitarist stand in the video. Haha.
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| No! Just no! |
