Band:	The Heretic
Album:	Gospel Songs In E Minor
Style:	Melodic black metal
Release date:	October 15, 2005
A review by:	Undercraft

01. Sunday Morning, The 13th
02. Chimera
03. Did I Say Why I Hate You
04. Today
05. We've Turned Into Saints
06. Ashamed
07. The Clam Of Integrity
08. Monster
09. The Day Of The Lord

The glorious return of The Heretic

I remember this band. I've listened their previous album "Chemistry For The Soul" (re-released in 2004 by Xtreem Music). It was an interesting experiment of Black Metal combined with outer elements such as complex songwriting and sound experimentation (electronic samples, symphonic arrangements, etc.).

Their new offering "Gospel Songs In E Minor" pushes those elements a little bit further creating a Progressive piece, filled with intricate musicianship, and plain weird song structures. Black Metal is there as always, but merely complementing with the vocals and atmosphere. The ever-present keyboards adds a lot of depth to the music, that paired with the eventual electro-industrial samples gives an extra touch to the music of The Heretic.

This album is quite different from the previous one, for starters is much more difficult to swallow, you have to listen to it several times to get a hold of the idea, sometimes it can be too intricate (one of the reasons why I left Progressive Metal behind), but once you get it, is a nice record to listen.

What drives me crazy about this band is the sudden tempo changes and the main role of the lead guitar, whether the song is upbeat or downbeat, the guitar is either soiling or doing piercing riffs. Don't expect "typical" Black Metal filled with aggression and blast beats here, you won't find it on here. I think that the song that identifies the band more is "We've Turned Into Saints" although "Ashamed" is also a awesome song.

The Heretic delivered a less straight forward album with tunes for all tastes, you got rapid, blasting songs ("Did I Say Why I Hate You?") groovy, catchy ones ("Monster"), and even sludgy, Black Sabbath oriented ones (The Day Of The Lord").

For everyone wanting to listen Black Metal with a twist, take a closer look at The Heretic, a Spanish band that is bringing some originality to the scene.