Hegemon

Hegemon - Still Raping After All These Years
Chanteloup Creations, 1998
Genre: Black Metal

1. Dawnbringer
2. Stigmata
3. Howling Silence
4. Chaos Supreme
5. Apocalyptic Armageddon
6. A Wandering Beyond
7. The King of Wisdom







I hesitate to call this Hegemon's second demo release because this is more of a re-release with bonus tracks.  Both are released by Chanteloup Creations and the title is clearly based off the first demo.  Although I find this title a little baffling because it was released a year later and the title implies they been doing this for a very long time... but the band only started in 1996.

The tape booklet is on xeroxed paper just like the prior release, but this one is much more interesting to look at.  It's printed on both sides with quite a bit of artwork, which I'm sure is taken from other sources.  However, they don't say where the other sources are.  The cover looks like something H.R. Giger would create though.  On the other side is a huge fold-out picture of two dragons roaring at each other.

So the first four tracks are entirely the same extremely good Black Metal, but the real reason to check this out are the three extra tracks.  These are not studio recordings but are "recorded during a devastating rehearsal session, July 1998."  Since these tracks make no attempt to be recorded with care, they will clearly have quality issues.  I have no issue with this, I think it's just interesting to hear what Hegemon have been working on in the past year and to see if it lives up to their original compositions.

I'm not sure how fully formed the Rehearsal compositions are.  For example "A Wandering Beyond" appears on the first full length and is a full minute longer than this version.  "The King of Wisdom" is the full track though.  "Apocalyptic Armageddon" doesn't appear on any full lengths, but the riffs certainly do.  Based on the album "Chaos Supreme" I think they took riffs from "Apocalyptic Armageddon" and put them into "A Wandering Beyond".

The rehearsal tracks are actually pretty good despite the recording quality.  This band sorely needs to get into a full recording studio because with strong production they would be quite a force to be reckoned with.  I feel like the interplay between the instruments has only gotten more interesting than the first recordings.  So, I am definitely looking forward to hearing a full length from this band!

I am posting "Apocalyptic Armageddon" below because I believe some riffs from this song never reappeared, I could be wrong though.  In any event they never appeared altogether like this song again.

Hegemon - Rape the Banner of Light
Chanteloup Creations, 1997
Genre: Black Metal

1. Dawnbringer
2. Stigmata
3. Howling Silence
4. Chaos Supreme










Here begins the career of a really great French band.  I think I originally stumbled upon this band when I was looking up projects members of other bands were in.  This band features Kriss, who also drummed with Mütiilation before Meyhna'ch turned it into a solo project.  So on that whim I decided to check this band out and they certainly didn't disappoint!  This is definitely much more exciting than what Mütiilation had been working on a few years before this.  I feel like Kriss was able to showcase his drum skills a lot more with Hegemon, because he gives quite an impressive performance on this demo.

I really wish I had discovered this band back in 1997 because it was around this time where I felt like a lot of Black Metal was getting sort of uninteresting.  In later years I seem to be stumbling upon all these great original bands that I simply missed out on.  Even looking at Chanteloup Creations' back catalog is an impressive thing to behold, they released demos for bands that would later become legends!  Unfortunately everything is limited and Chanteloup is no more.  Of the 500 hand-numbered copies of this demo I own #156.

It's sort of hard to describe Hegemon in some ways, because they pull influence from all kinds of excellent sources.  Even if this isn't what they had in mind, I would liken this to Marduk's "Those of the Unlight" because Hegemon have a certain degree of interplay between clean guitar passages and vicious intensity.  I wouldn't even begin to call this band a Marduk rip-off, but I just feel like the song structuring bears similarity.  In any event the music is actually quite well arranged and they've managed to structure songs in such a way that they have a very fresh feel compared to everything else around this time.  An aspect that really stands out is how complex some of this guitar work is, while still managing to maintain a good Black Metal atmosphere.  This is an extremely difficult thing to do because I find bands sacrifice atmosphere once they start trying to increase the complexity of the music, but Hegemon never had to make this sacrifice.

One thing that really stands out in this band is the Bass guitar work.  Mostly due to the sheer fact that it plays a very important role and in a lot of Black Metal it is quite buried.  Not so with Hegemon.  Their bassist has a voice and it is incredibly important!  These songs just wouldn't sound the same without the interplay between the guitar and the Bass work.  There are even times when the bass appears to take over the "lead" aspect to the songs.  The vocal performance is fairly standard, which might sound surprising given how varied everything else is... however, I think this works quite well.  I worry the songs would sound too dynamic if there wasn't some unifying force behind it.  N still has a great voice for the music and this man can scream incredibly fast through the blasting sections.  It's impressive to listen to him just keep up with those parts.

In the end, this is a very strong beginning for this band.  Usually you don't get demo work this well done, but Hegemon certainly have some excellent writing to show off.  I imagine things can only go up from here and I look forward to seeing what this band can do if they ever got in a full studio!

I really should've uploaded "Dawnbringer" because it never made it onto a studio album, but I quite liked the song "Stigmata" and felt it was better representative of the sort of unique sound Hegemon is putting out there.

Runes of Dianceht

Hegemoon/Runes of Dianceht Split
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 Hegemoon: here
Side Runes of Dianceht:

Runes of Dianceht is a band from the Ukraine, which I never heard of prior to getting this split. Despite starting in 1996, this appears to be their first material pressed onto CD. The material on here is actually the same material released on their third demo "Не быть сему законом!" originally released in 1999.

Usually, I try to track down a bands full discography and give a good assessment of their career, but since this is their last recording and I wasn't really into it, I'll just review this. I assume this band has finished doing any work together since it's been well over ten years since this demo was originally released.

I don't know what I should say about this part of the split. Runes of Dianceht just didn't grab my attention. The music is well performed, but the writing is sort of lackluster. Even for the time of 1999 this material would still be fairly standard, so in that regard I'm not surprised this band stayed in the world of demos, even though they are one of the earlier Ukrainian bands. The only song that really stood out for me was "Остановись и оглянись", which opens with a truly wonderful guitar line. But other than that the songs just didn't catch me, despite the fact they are well performed by competent musicians. Another aspect I didn't like as much were certain parts of the vocals. The vocals are not anything special to begin with, but when the vocalist tries to hit higher ranges it just didn't work. In the end I found it more annoying than anything else.

In the end Runes of Dianceht is not a band I'm going to be hoping comes back. They're not terrible, but they're not doing anything that grabs any kind of attention. I'm not very inclined to search out their earlier demos and I'm not sure I would recommend people rush out and hear this band.

Here's the best track on the album, in my opinion anyway...

Hegemoon

Hegemoon & Moontower - Zjednoczeni w akcie nienawiści
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.

Hegemoon - Szaty Kłamstw
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.

Hegemoon - Tron Zła (Tape Edition)
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.

Hegemoon - Tron Zła
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!

Hegemoon/Runes of Dianceht Split
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.

Frostseele

Frostseele - PrækΩsmium
Self Mutilation Services/Razed Soul Productions, 2012
Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal

1. Die Architektur des Seins
2. Diagnose
3. Du
4. Tabula Rasa
5. LD 100










If you check out one new band in 2012 it better be this band.  A lot of great stuff was released this year and I don't want to put it up against some veterans, so this is definitely a must hear new band.  Germany seems to be working very hard at producing some incredible Atmospheric Black Metal.  I feel like this is a somewhat new take on Black Metal, in the ever shifting world of this genre.  Sure, some bands have done something like this before, but I feel like it is really exploding.  How does Frostseele fit in against the growing avalanche?  I think they have the potential to really stand out in this genre, but "PrækΩsmium" still needs some minor work.

Frostseele play a type of Atmospheric Black Metal that could rank up there with ColdWorld and that is certainly no small feat for a debut album. Frostseele manages to blend together wonderful musical textures to beautiful effect.  The one thing I find fairly interesting about this genre is that it took a style that was basically fierce and unforgiving and crafted it into something that was actually quite beautiful to listen to.  Sure, beautiful sounding passages have shown up in Black Metal for decades, but I feel the true blending is what we are experiencing today.  "PrækΩsmium" starts our journey with some acoustic guitar that builds into a slow and solemn sounding Black Metal song.  The rhythm section is beautifully arranged and enhanced fully with the lead guitars.  One thing I'll say about Frostseele is that he is a master of layering and writing this music.  The songs are absolutely epic in length, except for the closing track, so it really does take a master craftsman to pull this off.  However, "LD 100" is more of an outro track it seems.  I'm not sure this worked for a closing because it sort of felt like the album peters out rather closing on a fulfilling note.

There are is a minimal use of vocals on this album, so the tracks wind up being mostly instrumental.  Frostseele manages to pull this off quite well, because the guitar arrangements are simply that good.  I am very glad they didn't use the high pitched wails a la Burzum, like a lot of bands in this genre use.  I feel like an attempt at this may have been made in "Du", but to a far less annoying degree.  The vocals overall were alright, but nothing spectacular.  I feel like there are some missed opportunities for vocals to enhance certain parts of songs, but the music holds up find without such treatment.  Luckily there are no clean vocals on this album, I feel like that always ruins things and I love the contrast between harsh vocals and music that sounds beautiful like this.  I can only hope he never decides to have clean vocals on anything... it will just ruin the creation.

Since the album is so heavily reliant on the guitar arrangements, I feel like they are too prominent in the mix.  Okay, they're mixed fine, but the drums are  too far in the background.  I would expect the bass drum to be at least far more audible in the mix, but it is actually fairly buried.  The cymbals seem to be in there quite well, but for some reason a few parts of the kit got lost in the mix.  I find this an odd turn of events, since everything else is actually mixed quite well.

Overall this is actually a very wonderful listen, despite very minor points of contention.  If you want a decent picture of this band, I would say it takes elements from Wolves in the Throne Room and ColdWorld.  They blend some piano, acoustic guitar, and violin into the mix, so it makes for a very interesting listen.  Frostseele is a great writer and I hope that we can see him progress even more in the future.  A must hear for sure!

Glorior Belli

Glorior Belli - Evil Archaic Order
Satanic Propaganda Records, 2003
Genre: Black Metal

1. Evil Archaic Order
2. Eternal Torments
3. Black Procession











Glorior Belli are hailing out of France and this is their rather impressive debut.  Unfortunately we only get three songs for this and I would have preferred to hear more.  This actually isn't as poorly recorded as I've heard from most demos out there.  There are some issues with the mix, such as the drums are a little too loud making the guitars feel a bit too far away, but we expect such things when listening to demo material from cassette's.

I feel the guitars are fairly well arranged.  Infestuus tried to give us a rather interesting arrangement where two guitars would play off of each other.  He really nailed some dark atmosphere in "Black Procession" and that is by far my favorite song on this demo.  I feel like they are going for something akin to early Deathspell Omega and for the time this demo came out that was still a fairly fresh approach to Black Metal.  Unfortunately I feel like the guitar arrangements aren't as interesting, I feel they could become as interesting on future releases, but it's not quite there yet.  Glorior Belli is clearly still developing their art into something even more sinister.  The vocals are probably another aspect that will stand out for this group.  Infestuus uses a strange guttural rasp that almost borders on being Death Metal... but it's not quite growl oriented enough to qualify for that!  It's something somewhat different, but it seems to work alright for Glorior Belli.

The booklet is pro-printed and has a rather eye-catching cover.  It looks like a painting trying to portray something from the Crusades.  I also like some of the graphic design on part of the booklet, the only thing I don't like is that the booklet's interior is blank.  If you're going to make a tape booklet that folds out, at least print something on the interior!  I hate it when things are published like this.

At this point, I'm not sure if I would say people need to rush out and hear this demo.  It looks like only one of the songs made it onto their debut album with "Eternal Torments" and this wasn't the most interesting on the demo.  Either way, here begins Glorior Belli's career and it looks like it might be promising.