Herod - They Were None

Herod

They Were None

by H.P. Buttcraft at 27 May 2014, 11:53 AM

HEROD is a new Swiss Sludge / Hardcore band, and this dark and moody release of theirs is called "They Were None" from Danish label Mighty Music. This album wastes no time with introductions and jumps right into the immensely dense track “The Fall”, a song that stretches out to nearly ten minutes in length. By the time it's concluded, it sets up the framework with how each song on the album will sound like.

The band’s main strengths lie primarily in the work done by their drummer Fabien Vodoz and their vocalist David Glassey. These guys really kicked ass on "They Were None". The vocals just have that perfect balance between rage and control and they never really get old. While I enjoyed the guitars too, there was no denying how much talent HEROD’s drummer has on tracks like “Inner Peace” and “Albert Fish”. The guitars are enjoyable but become repetitive throughout the record. The problem with the guitars is the overuse of the low B 7^th string that can be heard so commonly in Metal’s newest subgenres, ‘Djent’. Where does Hardcore become heavy enough to become Djent? When does thrash metal become complex enough to become Djent? Why do we, as music critics and fans, have to label this new genre as ‘Djent’?

Well you can thank MESHUGGAH’s lead guitarist Fredrik Throndendal for coining the term “Djent” jokingly in an interview. Ever since, that’s just what everybody’s been calling rhythmic, heavy music with odd time signatures and guitars that use more than six strings. Is HEROD Djent, though? I certainly wouldn’t say so. Even though Bertland Pot’s seven string riffs call back to MESHUGGAH, HEROD lack any real urge to have all that progressive of a sound. I would never group HEROD in with bands like ANIMALS AS LEADERS or CHIMPSPANNER who are probably more comfortable with the Djent label than HEROD would be. Sometimes, the riffs sound something out of a NEUROSIS record, like the intro to “Northern Lights” and the song “We Are the Failure”.

It’s a great little mix of equal parts Sludge Metal a la NEUROSIS, Groove Metal drumming similar to GOJIRA, and the Djent styling of MESHUGGAH only if MESHUGGAH were far more brooding and melancholy. This is certainly a new band that needs a close eye kept on them in the future because they are onto something really cool.