Heaving Earth – Darkness of God
Release Date: 27th May 2022
Label: Lavadome Productions
Bandcamp
Genre: Death Metal, Dissonant Death Metal.
FFO: Dischordia, Ulcerate, Ad Nauseum, Sunless.
Review By: Eric Wilt
When I got into the review game, I didn’t intend to like every album that came across my desk. I figured I’d give each record a handful of open-minded listens and then write a truthful review, even if what I had to say was less than flattering. I’ve done this so far and, although I haven’t loved every single album that I’ve reviewed, I’m still waiting to get that stinker that I have a hard time finding anything good to say about. With that in mind, when I get an album to review from a band that I don’t know, I listen to it with the knowledge that this might be the stinker I’ve been dreading (expecting) all along. I hadn’t heard of Heaving Earth before receiving this album to review, so, of course, there was a chance that their new album, Darkness of God, was that lousy record that I know I’ll eventually have to write about. After a number of listens, I can very confidently tell you that it is not. In fact, vocalist Marek Štembera, guitarists Tomáš Halama and Martin Meyer, bassist Tomáš Ledvina, and session drummer Giulio Galati have made such a good record, that I’m surprised and a little embarrassed that I’m just now learning of them.
With touches of dissonance, classical scales, black metal and a whole lot of tremolo picking, the songs on Darkness of God are a riff heaven from a band that very much wants to take you to hell. In reading about their first two releases, comparisons to Morbid Angel and Immolation kept coming up again and again. The former comparison is obvious since they took their name from a Morbid Angel song, but the similarities aren’t all that prevalent on this release. The scales Heaving Earth incorporates—when they aren’t briefly shredding some neoclassical riffage—are much more dissonant than those Morbid Angel uses. Heaving Earth also spends as much time at the high end of the register as they do down in the depths where Morbid Angel lived. The latter comparison, is more apt, in atmosphere especially, but Heaving Earth is more dissonant still.
What I really like about Darkness of God is the way Heaving Earth spends more time playing tremolo picked individual notes as opposed to relying on a plethora of power chords like a lot of their peers do. In this, they remind me of dissonant death metal bands such as Dischordia and Ulcerate and various black metal bands. The overarching sound of the album is that dissonant shredding similar to the aforementioned two bands. While all of the songs display this dynamic very well, Crossing the Great Divide (Prayer to a Crumbling Shrine), The Lord’s Lamentations, and Earthly Kind are as good as anything on the album. The songs Apologetics (Of Failure and Fall) and Forever Deceiving Dismal Gods delve into the neoclassical realm, while Cardinal Sin boasts some extremely palatable bass noodling to supplement the atmosphere the guitars are creating.
All in all, Heaving Earth has frog-leaped their early influences to embrace a more dissonant sound that is all of their own. If you know them from their past albums, it would be worth your time to go into this album with an open mind. If this is your first taste of Heaving Earth, as it was mine, hold on to your hat, you’re in for a wild ride.
(4.5 / 5)
