Band:	Hexenklad
Album:	Heathenheart
Style:	Blackened folk metal
Release date:	July 2021

01. Heathenheart
02. Cold Beauty Of Winter
03. Huginn And Muninn
04. Dark Moon In Capricorn
05. Rootbound
06. The Raven Returns To The Knoll
07. A Thousand Paths To Wisdom
08. Olde Gods Awaken
09. Beware The Outstretched Hand
10. A Forest Of Dead Trees
11. Upon The Wings Of Valkyries
12. A Moment Of Silence
13. We Raise A Horn

Why believe in second chances?

That's the question I asked myself immediately after I started my second listen of this album. A second listen which I quite frankly kept postponing, just like the start of the F1 race at Spa Francorchamps. As most of you might know by now, I like to give every album I listen to for a review a second chance, basically to see if my opinion changes on the album. In this case I could (and should) have just kicked that idea out of my head. This is not a good album folks; however, I assume you already had a feeling I was going to say that.

Where to start? Production maybe? What little there is of that? I mean seriously let's first talk about the drums. They are sunk so deep into the mix even an analogy to the Titanic would be an understatement. The guitars miss oomph. It's like an engine with a massive turbo bolted onto it that muffles the sound. Bass? That's as present as a steak in a vegetarian meal. And the vocals? I'll get back to that in a minute.

Anyway, what about the music? Best way to describe the first song is to compare it to Sonic. Gotta go fast! Unfortunately they go so fast they run straight into a wall and that wall is called "noise". It simply lacks in the songwriting department, which results in it being unmemorable. Add on top of that the awful production and it actually sounds like you are listening to a bunch of noise with not a lot of distinguishable parts. This continues throughout the whole album. That being said, I feel like it's a lot more present in the first part of this record.

What am I alluding at? A sliver of hope? A saving grace? A beacon of light in this dark place called Heathenheart? Well... kind of? I'm actually referring to the acoustic parts of this album. There's more clarity in the production, some nice little melodies and? oh? no? it's back! The mumbling drunk guy on public transport vocals are back! It's not a good sign when your vocals remind me of a certain album I've reviewed in the past? Honestly, though I'd say it's slightly less annoying than on that? thing, but still?

And since we're talking about vocals, I think it's time for me to say that I did have some issues with them. They're not bad from a performance standpoint if we look at grit, power and energy. But Hexenklad runs into the same issue as many other bands in the genre and that's pronunciation. For all I know he's is singing about the Care Bears or his love for Beanie Babies. I know some people don't care about it as much as I do, which is fine. For me though, it did impact my (dis)liking of this album.

All in all, I can say that the second part of Heathenheart felt like it had more clarity, variety and distinguishable songs on it (both in the acoustic and heavier parts). I wouldn't rate it higher than average, but it's an improvement over the first half. As it stands, this record isn't without its merits, but it never inspired me to give it another listen. There are too many flaws in it for that.