Hellveto

Mere microseconds into the first track, "Taran," on Neoheresy, Hellveto begin spinning a spell of dark enchantment, with Eastern and gothic atmospheres shrouding a dirty black metal core. The rest of the album maintains the same gloomy and tantalizingly threatening feel but never manages to recapture the magic of those opening chords. Hellveto is a one-man black metal project from Poland, with demos dating back to the mid- to late '90s and several official releases emerging throughout the past decade. Paganism, medievalism and epic grandeur are all in the band's repertoire but Neoheresy doesn't really get into its medieval garb until the second track. And it's not until the next song that blast beats break out in their full intensity amidst a more stripped-down black metal storm. Things only get more complex from here on in, with extravagant symphonics, and even a laid-back acoustic and piano groove. After six lengthy chapters, the album is entrancing and a little perplexing but it also doesn't seem to need to make sense.