Heretic - Bringin' NWOBHM to London

August 27th 2022

London, Camden, The Black Heart, UK

****

A Heavy Metal band we will be keeping an eye on!!!

Heretic **** is a Heavy Metal / NWOBHM band from Brazil, think of 'Seventh son of a seventh Son' era Iron Maiden mixed with Judas Priest and Kamelot and you are not even quite there with the sound of Heretic. You would have to enter elements of Tool, and maybe even Sepultura. I have been attending so many Metal shows recently, and I have to say that Heretic really standout as something special. They are a band that you don't have to be a genius to see could progress to the big stage, and be one of the biggest Metal bands around. Tonight they are in London, and hitting The Black Heart in Camden as main support for promising Death Metal / Deathcore band 10 Plagues.

They have an Egyptian theme to them, which would work well in a big arena with scenery of this time. I really loved the track 'The Storm', and I would pick this out as my personal highlight of the bands London set. But any of the tracks could have been a highlight, they are that well polished and good. After Covid-19 and all the Lockdowns in the UK it's great to see bands are finally coming over to tour here again, and this band com all the way from Brazil... so it must have been a little scary for them to travel over.

I think recently the Retro Metal sound has been getting very popular, I think it is really hard now to come up with new sounds. So people are going back to the classic sounds that they heard once when they were a kid, but I wouldn't say Heretic are a Retro band. Yes! they mix up this old sound, but they really have something new to add. You really get the feel of story telling throughout their set, like they actually have something to say or tell you about. I really think this is missing from a lot of modern music, the fact that people actually want the music and lyrics to mean something.

Their brand of storytelling is ever present in opening number and single 'Hybrid Fear', this song is so epic. It reminds me of when I was young and I went to the record shop, and bought Iron Maiden tapes like 'Somewhere in Time' or 'Seventh son of the seventh Son' which I mentioned before. This is music that is epic and has some great grandeur to it, this is so big... it's like your listening to the royalty of Metal music. I love the Pantera esq. sound of 'Rebellions', this is so great to me as a massive Pantera fan. The harmonics are really Dimebag Darrell esq. and the drums really have that Vinnie Paul feel, musicians in my mind that will never be forgotten... so nice they are paying tribute to them in this song.

'Trail of Sins' has such a great intensity to it, that could even be compared to Gojira at times. But it's not in your face like that band, it just flows nicely and blends into the sound that Heretic want to create. Standout tracks thou are at the end of the set 'The Realm' and 'The Storm', are just so good... and I am instantly drawn to them like an old friend. And they really leave you wanting more, but due to time constraints and the fact headliners 10 Plagues are coming on after them... it all sadly has to end. But I have discovered a band, I will really be keeping an eye on in the future and I advise you do too.

Review and Photos by Dan Devour