Artist: Heretic
Album: Words to Epilogues
Label: Independent
Mixed and Mastered by: Keshav Dhar at Studio Purple
Release Date: 22nd December 2012
Formed in 2005 in the serene town of Cochin, Heretic is an Alternative Metal band; a genre which one doesn’t hear of everyday. Determined to create a sound of their own, the band has gained confidence and experience throughout the years. Starting as a meagre garage band, they went on to perform in events like June RockOut, Kingfisher Great Indian October Fest, Yamaha RoXX and Independence Rock; and now they are here with their debut full length album – Words to Epilogues. Released on 22nd December, the album features 9 unique tracks as listed below:
- Echoes from a Canvas
- Reprise
- Choice
- Slaves and the System
- Words to Epilogues
- Alone
- Bleed To Heal
- Thoughts
- Ring of Colours
Along with this, they released an impressive music video for their first single – Thoughts, on 15th December.
The current line-up of Heretic is:
Akhil Unnikrishnan – Vocals
Hareesh Kumar – Guitars
Abhijit Namboodiripad – Guitars
Benjamin Thomas – Bass
Kevin Paul Prichard – Drums
The album is quite unique and refreshing in its sound. No unwanted experiments anywhere, everything seemed to be chalked out to perfection.
The vocals throughout has been impressive, though I didn’t like the growls too much to be frank. The growls felt incomplete and lacked intensity at times. In songs like Choice and Rings of Colours, the growls at times felt like a simple fry vocal technique with some delay effects, the typical depth one expects was lacking. That being said, Akhil has a nice clean vocal range. The husky voice he has does justice to the band’s sound. At times his vocals reminded me of ex-Motherjane vocalist Suraj Mani. He has a classical Indian vocal influence, which can be clearly observed in songs like Echoes from a Canvas, Choice and Alone.
Guitars have been the strong point throughout this album, from crisp clean patches in songs like Words to Epilogues, Bleed to Heal and Ring of Colours; to the distortion mayhem in Alone, Thoughts, Reprise and the insane machine gun riffing in Choice. A perfect balance between harmony, melody and harshness has been maintained with perfection. Though I was a little sad as there were no distinctive guitar solos, mostly arpeggios were played. But the guitar tone is a real beauty. Specially, the tube amp-like guitar patch in the solo of Words to Epilogues. Something similar to what Baiju used in his solos for Motherjane.
Bass and Drums have done a great job in their respective areas. The bass parts were pumpy and were clear enough for me to hear. The drumming was impressive throughout, Kevin handled the killer double bass parts and the occasional off-time beats with ease. Something you would expect from a band who have been around for so long. The intro drums of Words to Epilogues reminded me of Linkin Park’s song – Leave out All the Rest, but it was a clear coincidence and not an attempt to copy it.
Production of the album, well when Keshav Dhar is in charge of the production, you expect some high quality material. And he doesn’t disappoint. Mixing throughout the albums has been great, except for the intro of Bleed to Heal, where the vocals were not audible clearly; I felt it could have been mixed a little higher.
The lyrics have a nice touch of poetic sense to them. Mostly expressing self-experiences, at least that is what I could understand by reading them. But as they say – never try to find the meaning of a poem, it loses its magic. So, no more comments on that.
Overall an impressive album, wish Heretic all the best for their future endeavours.
Recommended tracks –
- Thoughts
- Reprise
- Choice
- Alone
