DIRENOTES

Harking from Athens, Greece, Progressive Metal (Maybe Progressive Death Metal?) band Herta has been spending quite a bit of time touring their proverbial asses off in hopes of promoting their debut album: Crossing the Illusion. It isn’t often that me, someone plagued by a host of attention related disorders, finds themselves listening to something three or four times in a row. However, here I am, spending my entire afternoon digging through Herta’s monolithic debut rather happily as I do mundane things like walking the nearby trail and washing the dishes. Things have to be done guys, give me a break.

Anyhow, no matter if it’s due to influence or by coincidence, Herta has put forth an offering which evokes both Gojira and Lamb of God rather evenly. Though, most directly through frontman Konstantinos Togas (Nightrage) who seems to tap into the same wealth of creativity as both Joe Duplantier and Randy Blythe simultaneously. That isn’t to say that what he’s doing is a carbon copy, not by any means, but it has the same wild and wanton energy you’d hear on albums featuring either of those singers.

At times, specifically on the tracks Incarnation and My Demise, he even manages to pull off some softer and effectual tones as well. To me, this just illustrates just how intentful Togas’ delivery is on this album. There isn’t a bit of this that hasn’t been expertly planned out and executed, making for some of the sharpest vocals in metal I’ve heard in some time.

Of course, Herta has also made the incredibly intelligent decision to bring in Sakis Tolis (Rotting Christ) and George Prokopiou (Poem/Mother of Millions) for some added vocal variety sprinkled about a couple tracks. While I never got bored of Togas at all, it was crazy to hear Tolis pop up on Monolith. I’d personally heard nothing of Rotting Christ in years, and seeing one of their members peek their heads up on something like this was actually quite surprising.

Prokopiou rather silently pops up on River to the Abyss (seriously, this man needs a “Ft” on the title too!), and I’d never heard of anything he’s done before, but I was thoroughly impressed by how well his softer vocals complimented Togas on the track.

Now that I’ve written probably way too much about Herta’s vocals and vocalist, let me get to the foundation on which his delivery lies (the music, duh). Where do I even begin? There are so many variations and styles at play that it makes Crossing the Illusion sort of hard to explain.

I wouldn’t say it’s Progressive Metal, at least not in the traditional sense. You aren’t getting Opeth, Devin Townsend, or Haken. There isn’t any “riff salad,” as they say, or an overabundance of solos. Though, I get the impression that the boys in Herta could pull something like that off if they really wanted to. You aren’t getting Gojira or Lamb of God either—those influences stop at the vocals. If anything, this is a lot like the good-old-days of Melodic Death Metal but with a few extra touches made here and there.

When I referred to Crossing the Illusion as “monolithic,” I was referring to the expertly crafted experience that you get when putting a pair of headphones on and blasting the crap out of this thing. It sounds huge, featuring the sort of layering that makes two guitars and a bass sound like an orchestra. That is, especially when juxtaposed with acoustic guitars and soft backing tracks featuring what sounds like a literal orchestra. Maybe it isn’t—I’m no pro, and they could have pulled off some more budget-friendly technological effects that work just as well. It’s astonishing, but especially after the album hits the mid-point.

Which does bring me to my only actual gripe: I don’t think Control was a great song to start the album off with. It’s not a bad song, being very “groovy,” but it doesn’t accurately represent how the rest of the album flows at all. Personally, it might have been better to kick off with a track like The Snake Devours the Wolf. Mostly due to it being a pretty thunderous tune, with some incredibly powerful guitar work. Maybe the perfect way to hook someone before dropping the more mellow tracks that follow. Well, if you could really consider anything on Crossing the Illusion actually mellow.

Herta, of course, has invested a lot into the production here. Produced and mixed by Fotis Benardo at Devasoundz Studios and mastered by Johann Meyer at Silver Cord Studios. No, I haven’t heard of either before. However, as they are partly responsible for the completed package that would become Crossing the Illusion, I can’t help but admire their part in the overall sound. I think it’d be smart of Herta to stick with these guys, but that might just be because I want more of what I’m hearing on this album right now.

Thank you Herta, for enriching my afternoon with your insanely well-made music. Without a doubt, this being my first review in so many years on this site, Crossing the Illusion has set the bar quite high. Not that it would be fair to compare.

-KEITH HAM-