Review HERETOIR ‘Nightsphere’

Heretoir is a pretty interesting band, which should already be known to insiders. Nevertheless, the guys from Augsburg have deserved to gain awareness on a somewhat larger scale, because what the five-piece from Bavaria delivers musically, is quite something to see and listen to.

A few months after the guys have brought with ‘Wastelands’ an EP to the start, the third studio album follows with ‘Nightsphere’ which contains only five songs. However, the quantity counts less than the quality and here the Bavarians have once again put everything into play.

‘Nightsphere’ bristles with self-confidence and compositional diversity. Right at the beginning the guys reveal with ‘Sanctum – Nightsphere Part I’, an impressive opener, what characterizes the sound of the band. A calm and atmospheric beginning with clean vocals slowly develops into a thumping black metal song where the sorrowful screams of frontman Eklatanz deeply burn themselves into the consciousness.

Photo: Toni Gunner

After the band offered two more great songs with ‘Twighlight oft he Machines’ and ‘Pneuma’, ‘Glacierheart – Nightsphere Part II’ continues what started with the opener. Once again it is the compositional cleverness that makes the almost 12-minute song an exciting journey through the desperate sound realm of black metal that also entails a guest appeareance of Der Weg Einer Freiheit mainmnan Nikita Kamprad.

The full range of Heretoir can also be represented by the aforementioned ‘Pneuma’. It is actually more of a 7-minute interlude where spherical sounds take over. With almost mesmerizing repetition Heretoir draws the listener under its spell.

Finally, there is ‘The Death of Man’. This is by far the shortest track on ‘Nightsphere’ which does not mean that we are dealing with a compact black metal thriller. Rather, ‘The Death of Man’ is an instrumental which is similar in structure to ‘Pneuma’ and you get the feeling that everything revolves around the two epic parts of the title tracks, while the other songs provide the framework for them. Thus ‘Nightsphere’ can be seen as a Gesamtkunstwerk, which convinces with a richness of ideas and musical variety. ‘Nightsphere’ pleases already at the first listen and has enough details which guarantee a lasting listening experience.