Band:	Will Haven
Album:	The Hierophant
Style:	Sludge metal
Release date:	2008
A review by:	Jeff

01. Grey Sky At Night
02. King's Cross
03. Helena
04. Hierophant
05. Caviar With Maths
06. Landing On Ice
07. Skinner
08. Handlebars To Freedom
09. A Day Without Speaking
10. Singing In Solitary
11. Sammy Davis Jr.'s One Good Eye
12. Firedealer
13. Dark Sun Sets

Will Haven doesn't have a ton of releases in its discography but the people who like Hardcore probably know their really good last album "Carpe Diem". Due to a split, the fans had to wait six long years though, to be able to listen to the new release "The Hierophant". Grady Avenell is not in the band anymore and has been replaced by Jeff Jaworski but all in all it doesn't clearly change a thing to the music of Will Haven and you should enjoy the release even if this is not the mega revelation of the year.

Will Haven is a really special combo and I think that it can be a hate or love band. The music of the combo is extremely aggressive with slow mid-tempos songs in general and screaming vocals. This is not something that you can compare to the fast and furious Hardcore bands like Hatebreed or Sick Of It All, because Will Haven is a lot more into depressive and melancholic stuff. It's cool on a side because we have real cool melancholic ambiances but the problem with this kind of releases is that it can become boring with time. In my opinion, "The Hierophant", without being bad, is a bit repetitive and redundant and with time, some of you (and I'm one of you) will simply be a bit lost? I didn't find any big differences between each track and sometime I even had the feeling that I was just listening to the same songs. I don't know, "The Hierophant" probably lacks a bit of craziness but the compositions are not stupid and really there is something interesting behind each songs but something catchy is missing.

The production is also a bit average. This is Shaun Lopez and Chino Moreno who have worked on the album but the sound is not so loud and heavy anymore and finally it doesn't help and remove the impact of the big noisy production of "Carpe Diem". The cover art is also terrible; I don't know this release doesn't seem to be finished this is weird really.

"The Hierophant" is not a bad album but something is missing. Too bad that Will Haven has not released a new "Carpe Diem" but this is already good for their fans to see them back. Don't believe that the band doesn't deserve your attention, sure this is not classic Metal and really special slow Hardcore but this is all but commercial so maybe that you'll find something for you in their discography if you use to listen to original stuff. "The Hierophant" shouldn't disappoint the fans of Will Haven but this is not the best release that the American combo has ever done.