Act of Hate Records, 2013
Genre: Black Metal
Hegemoon:
1. Zastygłe cienie śmierci
Moontower:
2. Śmierć w chwale
Side Moontower: ...coming eventually...
Side Hegemoon:
After a couple year wait Hegemoon return with a split with the legendary Moontower. Unfortunately, they only give us a single song, but I really hope this means a new full-length is imminent. This release comes as a beautiful 7" vinyl limited to 250 copies. There's a beautiful insert with extra artwork and lyrics printed. I don't know any Polish, so I can't read the lyrics, but the insert is really great looking.
As with "Szaty Kłamstw", I was expecting some fairly high quality Black Metal and Hegemoon continue to deliver that to their listeners, even though it's only with a single track. They continue to border on that raging and melodic style. At a certain part of the song I get a distinct reminiscence of the early Marduk days, which is great, because I don't think bands really reference that era enough of Marduk anymore. Even though it is only a single track, the track is nearly eight minutes in length, so, at the very least, they've given us a decently long track, while we wait for, hopefully, a follow-up to "Szaty Kłamstw". You definitely can't go wrong with getting this split though.
Werewolf Promotion, 2011
Genre: Black Metal
1. Celebracja Czci
2. Wojna
3. Szaty Kłamstw
4. Dolina Czarnej Krwi
5. Manifest Bluźnierstwa
6. Gloria Paganum
7. Kielich Pogardy
8. Upadek Plemienia Kłamstwa
This is the long awaited follow-up to "Tron Zła" and it is an incredible improvement. This is actually the first recording I've heard of this band and I was immediately hooked, that's how great this album is. It spurred me on to get the rest of their releases to see if they were always this good. Unfortunately they weren't, but I would rather see a band improve to this level overtime than to degrade in quality. I am proud to see that this album also sees Hegemoon on a label with a lot further reach than Eastside and hopefully this review will help grow their audience as well, for this is some very high quality Black Metal.
It seems Darrior did not work out on vocals and the duties have past to Pogan who has been with the band from the beginning. Pogan proves to be the best vocalist for Hegemoon, in my opinion anyway. His vocals mesh with the music so perfectly and while he is not a stunning Black Metal vocalist like some of the larger names out there, his vocal tones work out great for the band. While Hegemoon has never added new things to the world of Black Metal, they are certainly a superb traditional Black Metal band. Writing quality at this caliber simply must be celebrated and Hegemoon prove to be superb riff masters. They play a more vicious and fast form of Black Metal, but it is constructed with a great deal of passion and at times can take on epic forms such as "Upadek Plemienia Kłamstwa" which has one of the finer guitar sections on the album.
The recording quality is spectacular. I think the drums are triggered and normally I don't like that with this style of Black Metal, but don't think it really took away from the production of this album. Hegemoon were able to construct excellent atmosphere and you can hear everything perfectly fine. I really have no complaints on a production level. The booklet and packaging is also very well done. It features lyrics (all in Polish) with pictures of the band members and is certainly a good aesthetic representation of the music within.
Overall I would say this is a very excellent representation of the traditional style of Black Metal. If this had been released in 1995 it would have been hailed as an incredible piece. I think this is really what a lot of the early bands were aiming for and Hegemoon really manages to capture that feel and sound perfectly. Just think of this as an updated version with more accessible production. Unlike some critics, I like both good and poor production provided the atmosphere of the music doesn't suffer and Hegemoon manage to maintain that atmosphere throughout the album. Definitely a must hear project! I can't wait to hear what they might put together next, given how this project seems to be progressing from the beginning.
Moon Records, 2008
Genre: Black Metal
1. Tron Zła cz. I
2. Wieczne Potępienie
3. Mroczne Pragnienia
4. Pogański Krzyk
5. Znak Czarnej Myśli (Bluźnierczy Instynkt)
6. Tron Zła cz. II
7. W Imię Ciemności
8. Czara Goryczy
9. Wędrówka do Księcia Cieni
10. Mroczne Pragnienia (Rehearsal 2008)
11. Rehearsal 2008
If you missed out on "Tron Zła" in 2005, Hegemoon have re-released this album on the curious format of cassette only. This is limited to 300 hand-numbered copies and I have copy #275. The tape comes with a full booklet professional printed with lyrics inside. The tape is dubbed and my copy came housed in the strangest tape case I have ever seen. I don't even know how to describe it...
The only reason I bothered with this is the two bonus rehearsal tracks from 2008. Even though one of the tracks is something from the full length we have an entirely new and untitled song. I was definitely interested to hear what Hegemoon had been working on since 2005.
The first rehearsal is "Mroczne Pragnienia" and as you can expect the recording is pretty harsh. I think the reason for doing this is because there have been some line-up changes. Long time member Daark has left the project and is replaced by Darrior on vocals. However, Darrior took over Bass duties and now Seth is on Guitar. So, releasing this in 2008 probably served two purposes, showing the band is not dead and there are new members. Darrior's vocals are quite good and totally suit the project, so he is a fine addition to the team. So this was a fine way to warm up the new member with an already written song. The track I was most interested in hearing was the epic "Rehearsal 2008" track clocking in at nearly eight minutes. This is definitely a curious track. It's entirely instrumental, but it is nonetheless an extremely good track. It seems like they've been writing some great material and it is a lot better than what we heard on "Tron Zła". The track is a lot more melodic, but also has some quite excellent eerie moments pulling it together. Definitely well written in my opinion. I really look forward to whatever this band has in store for us next.
Naturally this tape is really for collectors and major fans of the band. I would consider myself pretty into this band and I can't wait to hear what they might be writing next. Whatever they've been working on for this long, I certainly hope it's as good as this rehearsal track is leading me to think it will be.
Eastside, 2005
Genre: Black Metal
1. Tron Zła cz. I
2. Wieczne Potępienie
3. Mroczne Pragnienia
4. Pogański Krzyk
5. Znak Czarnej Myśli (Bluźnierczy Instynkt)
6. Tron Zła cz. II
7. W Imię Ciemności
8. Czara Goryczy
9. Wędrówka do Księcia Cieni
Wow, what a difference on this album. Whatever complaints I had prior to this release no longer apply to this band. "Tron Zła" is a very strong debut full length for this band. I feel like the elements that weren't well under control in the writing department have really turned around.
I think this album is a logical progression from the split. Hegemoon were writing in the vicious and fast Black Metal vein, but on "Tron Zła" they've really upped the ante on this concept. Just listen to the opening riff on "Mroczne Pragnienia" and that will give you a good idea of what I am referring to. One thing I love about Hegemoon is they do not try to blast their way through an album and instead try to arrange songs in a far more thoughtful manner. They are definitely more concerned with structuring a song in a more cohesive manner this time, whereas things were a little more disjoint before.
As far as overall sound goes, I can definitely hear Dark Funeral styled riffing going on throughout a lot of the songs. Sometimes I can even hear tinges of Svartsyn. However, their guitar tone is entirely different so it doesn't sound very much like Dark Funeral. Hegemoon tend to use a guitar tone that is a lot more thin. So it's a bit close to what Abigor seems to use, but with far more vicious sounding riffs than Abigor's usual melodic presentation. However, "Wędrówka do Księcia Cieni" has parts that sound quite a bit like what Abigor would do blended with far more vicious Black Metal.
In the end this album is a definite buy. While this band may not be bringing anything totally new, I can definitely appreciate the care with which this bands performs. So if you're looking for some fairly vicious and intense Black Metal with well composed and interesting songs then Hegemoon is definitely something that needs to be looked into. I look forward to hearing their next release!
Eastside, 2003
Genre: Black Metal
Hegemoon:
1. Intro
2. Majestat Pogańskiej Nocy
3. Miniony Praojców Czas
4. Pragnąć Mroków Przeszłości
5. Wędrówka Do Księcia Cieni
6. Opętaj Mnie
7. Jestem Twoją Ścieżką
8. Rytuał Dopełnienia
Runes of Dianceht:
9. Я говорю
10. Лишённые рассудка
11. Остановись и оглянись
12. Я вырвался из божеского плена
13. Ты человек
14. Будь предан
Side Runes of Dianceht: here
Side Hegemoon:
The reason I picked this up was because I purchased a later Hegemoon album and loved it. So I decided to delve into their earlier releases. Runes of Dianceht is clearly the longer running project, but prior to this they only released demos, so I guess both bands are sort of "unknown" at the time this was put out.
Hegemoon come out of Poland and I don't think there are any prior demos to this release. Hegemoon play a fairly typical style of Black Metal and is very reminiscent of the early Norwegian/Swedish sound. It's almost absurd to expect bands to do original things on a first release now, so I'll enjoy it for what it is. The music is definitely in the fast and vicious category of Black Metal, but Hegemoon are good enough that they don't feel the need to blast beat their way through an entire album. This is just well written and well performed Black Metal. Unfortunately they haven't entirely mastered writing really stand out riffs, so the songs have moments that stand out and moments where the song isn't going anywhere. You can definitely hear potential in the writing though, just listen to "Majestat Pogańskiej Nocy" and you'll hear sections that just hook you in!
The vocals are very well done. They've got just the right amount of reverb on them to make them terrifyingly wonderful in the mix. Daark's voice is the perfect tone to compliment music like this. The vocals might be a tiny bit too high in the mix, but overall it's blended in well enough so that it melds with the music almost perfectly. The lyrics are entirely in Polish so I have no idea what they're about. Actually everything in the booklet is in Polish. On that note, this is a really strange split, because rather than a single booklet like most splits, each band has it's own booklet. Seriously, they're both put into the jewel case. I found this very weird.
In the end Hegemoon's work on this release isn't something you need to rush out and hear. But if you are faced with giving this a good listen I can't imagine anyone really hating it or being disappointed. It's well written music for what it is and I enjoyed it on that level. Despite the thousands of bands out there that try to play with this kind of atmosphere, very few really nail it as well as Hegemoon have.
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