Talionis

Neoheresy exist since 1995 into the Polish scene under the name Hellveto. In 2014 their only member decided to change their name into Neoheresy. Since then they have already released one EP, one split and two full length albums, the first one in 2014 and the second one in April of 2015. So, some time ago I received their second album, Talionis, which contains ten tracks of overall duration of forty seven minutes. The new version of the same band, has not so many differences from the previous one. Both here the band present us melodic Metal, while it combines the symphonic elements that it had into previous material too, with more intensive elements of pagan and folk music.

The riffs that we come across into this album are minimalistic and they accompany the intense keyboards and the different instruments that the compositions contain as the violin or the acoustic guitar. What catches the eye is the beautiful keyboards which are very atmospheric, delivering, a very special color to the compositions. Also the theatrical character of the keyboards, delivers very vivid imagery to the listener. The classic guitar and the violin present melodies inspired by the traditional Polish music, that they are combined perfectly with the symphonic-atmospheric keyboards, giving a very interesting result. The tracks have the duration that they should (from three to six minutes) so that they are not tiring for the listener, they present completely the feelings and the images that the artist wants to express and they maintain the coherence between them. Regarding the structure, the band is trying to deliver to the listener in short way and without tiring him, a lot of images and sentiments through each composition, something that it does quite well.

The instruments are played with passion, expressiveness and feeling, but they don’t lack of accuracy. The instrument which plays the most important role is the keyboards that with their majestic, pompous, symphonic parts or their melancholic passages they create and deliver to the listener all the images and feelings. Both the violin and the classic guitar help significantly the atmosphere that the keyboards create. The guitars have a more secondary role, they mainly are rhythmic and give the intensity and power to the tracks. The bass isn’t audible almost at all but its absence didn’t bother me. The drums, if I am not wrong, come from a drum machine and its programming is quite simple, while its sound is bass. The vocals are, depending to the feeling, other times heavy, clean ones and other times heavy, furious Black Metal vocals which fit to the style of the compositions. The production is clean and puts out a bass, warm sound, while combined with the correct and balanced mixture they offer a very good result. Finally, the lyrics are written in Polish, they are not contained into the cd and I don’t know what the talk about.

The overall result of the album is good and it can offer a lot to the listener. The band is showing that after a lot of years and many releases has still a lot interesting moments to give to the listeners. To sum up, I think that Talionis is not an album that a Black Metal fan is looking for. However the album is a different and interesting listen, so those of you who are interested for something different, this album will definitely satisfy you. Surely though you should listen to it before you buy.