Bölzer : Hero (album)

[Mr. Sandman]

Enfin le premier album, prévu pour la fin novembre :

Today, Iron Bonehead Productions set November 25th as the international release date for Bölzer's massively anticipated debut album, "Hero."

Hailing from Switzerland, Bölzer is one of the most unique entities the metal underground has birthed in years. For one, Bölzer is proudly and resolutely a duo, using the barest essentials of voice, guitar, and drums and yet creating one of the densest, most world-eating sounds around. For another, the duo have wisely and patiently parceled out their recordings, with a lone nine songs to date across three records - 2012's "Roman Acupuncture" demo, 2013's Iron Bonehead-released "Aura" EP, and 2014's "Soma" EP - judiciously chronicling the band's evolution into one of the most critically acclaimed metal bands in recent memory. And yet, "critical acclaim" has never been a part of Bölzer's agenda: the commitment is to art alone, but it just so happens that word-of-mouth built organically (and feverishly), especially on the strength of the devastating, soul-draining live performances, where the band can recreate every aspect of the records in the flesh.

And at long last, flesh is given to a full-length album, and it bears the characteristically idiosyncratic title "Hero." Here, in many ways, Bölzer break from the past. Rich 'n' resonant clean vocals often take center stage, lending an alternately mournful/majestic quality to the duo's earth-juddering bulldoze. Likewise, the production across "Hero" is categorically cleaner than the grime-coated EPs, which dynamically enhances the spiraling melodicism that explodes into being here. Suitably, the songwriting itself takes on dazzling new contours, wending 'n' winding with even more fluidity - and certainly more daring - than the band's epic-yet-effortless EPs. And yet, for however seemingly radical these developments are - ultimately, it shouldn't be that "radical" in the hands of capable and sincere artisans - it all sounds like Bölzer, both it was, what it can be, and most especially, what it currently is. Every aesthetic suggestion, every subtle nuance, every thing left unsaid in the past: here on "Hero," it's all harnessed into a molten maelstrom that's ever more unique (and alien) because it's unshackled itself from expectation. It is, in a word, heroic. But what is the meaning of "Hero"? Discover for yourself, plunge into that maelstrom, and let Bölzer be your guide.

The first path to enlightenment can be heard below with the track "I am III." The album's cover and tracklisting are as follows:

1. Urdr
2. The Archer
3. Hero
4. Phosphor
5. Decima
6. I Am III
7. Spiritual Athleticism
8. Chlorophyllia
9. Atropos

Et un extrait complet (joué en live depuis un certain temps maintenant) :