Beautifully housed in a six panel digipack, ‘Au Peuple de l’Abime’is the second release from Toulouse-based black metal / sludge band Heir, following on from 2016’s three-track ‘Asservi’. With titles and lyrics in the band’s native French, there’s a sense of dark poetry to the band’s sound which would have been lost if they’d compromised by rendering their output in English. That same confidence is evident in their music, which weaves a dense, hypnotic web around the listener, alternately battering and soothing as each piece unfolds at a leisurely pace.
Opening with ‘au siecle des siecle’, the band set out their stall with ravaged guitars coalescing into a churning, black metal avalanche. However, that is but the start of the journey that the band intend, rather than the destination, and as the track progresses so the guitars are transmuted into something truly otherworld, more reminiscent of Cult of Luna than Darkthrone. Post-rock stylings and horrifying sludge combine to create new constellations from which the mysteriously monikered L.H. delivers his harrowing screams. The intro to ‘L’heure d’helios’ is quite beautiful, shimmering like morning dew, only for a searing hoar frost to erase everything in its frozen path. As impenetrably ugly as that which went before was beautiful, it is a juxtaposition most shocking and it serves to remind the listener that, wherever they tread, there be monsters here. Opening with an eerie sample (Hannah Arendt in the TV show ‘Zur Person’), ‘Meltem’ is a blackened smear, the guitars slithering over one another, leaving atonal wreckage in their wake. There’s an aura of dread that surrounds the awkward progressions that recalls early Emperor, but a deftly-executed dynamic shift sees Heir take things, once more, in their own unique direction with avant-garde elements that are more Sonic Youth than Satyricon. Reaching a stately climax, ‘meltem’ gives way to the (comparatively) short, searing blast that is ‘L’ame des foules’. Intense and relentless, ‘L’ame des foules’ still employs angular tempo shifts to keep the listener off-balance, recalling the early exertions of German collective The Ocean as it edges into outer space, melody emerging from the darkness to draw the listener at least partially towards the light. However, there remains final track ‘cendres’ to once again return the listener to the stygian darkness. As guitars blaze with primitive fury, the scarified vocals reach out with scabrous talons and, if a melancholy mid-section offers a poignant comment upon the listener’s fate, then the brutal finale cements it. It leaves the listener awash in feedback before abruptly terminating, leaving only silence in its wake.
Offering only five tracks, albeit in forty-minutes, ‘Au Peuple de l’Abime’ is an album best enjoyed as a complete piece. The dense layers of sound the band employ conjure up a unique atmosphere, and while reference points abound, the overall arrangement of the music sees Heir take their influences and mould them into something unique and otherworldly. Released via esteemed label Les Acteurs De L’Ombre, ‘Au people de l’Abime’ is a mesmerising trip that is well worth taking. 9
