Heathendom- The Symbolist

I picked this gem out a few days ago and I must say: I'm really liking the direction of heavy metal bands lately. Heathendom is a power/doom band hailing from the nation of Greece and they released their sophomore album, The Symbolist back in 2011. The Muses certainly chose these guys, as they live up to their ancient Greek potential in terms of music.

It's a perfect blend of doom and power metal, much like In Solitude's ramped up version of dark and evil. There are lots of evil and dissonant overtones, it reminds me of a Candlemass album in certain parts. The vocals go from a high wail to slight growls under neath the singing and everything in between. King Diamond and Geoff Tate would be proud. The guitars have doom riffs and the more uptempo riffs, along with the intermingling of evil and diminished scales to give that eerie overtone.

The subject matter of the songs are more philosophical and deep, not to be unexpected from a band from Athens, Greece (philosophy was pretty much invented there). Really, some of the song titles are: "The Concept of Reason", "Prescience of the End", and"Endistancement of the Null Position" (I didn't even know that was a word). However, I don't think it should shun away those that like more simple songs as the vocal lines are just as great to listen to as the rest of the music, who reads the damn lyrics anyways?

There's not much of a variety between the songs, they all border around the same structure and style, but I can't really complain. The title track and "Black Euphoria" are among my favorites, the title track has some of the most epic falsettos I've heard in a long time.

If you're looking for stuff that's in the Mercyful Fate vein but with more doomy aspects, then you've found it. It's melodic, but it's still evil and heavy enough to scare your grandmother or your father's uptight girlfriend (teehee).

Gitchoo sum!
4/5