Homoferus – ‘Herocly’

Artwork for 'Herocly' by HomoferusFronted by Russian-born guitarist/vocalist Nil Dilian, this Bergen-based quartet have self-released an eight-track debut album that is fairly standard second wave of Norwegian black metal fare, made up of crunchy groove-laden riffs over mixture of clean and deathbeat drumming.

Opener ‘Delirium’ is nothing special – the sort of thing the likes of Dimmu Borgir, Children Of Bodom and even our own Cradle Of Filth have been doing for years, only much better.  The title track is more restrained, with more use of keyboards, and it works so much the better for this, as it has a more atmospheric, downbeat feel.  ‘Hatred By Nature’, however, is a confusing mess, while ‘Iron Butterfly’ starts in traditional death metal mode but soon follows its predecessor down Confusion Boulevard:  ‘Reality Show’ and ‘Leexem’ are both more mediocre mid-table DM fare, while sandwiched between them is the derisory and laughable ‘RioK’.

Closer ‘Shadow’s Confession’ promises so much more, with its guitar/keyboard interaction at the start and its clean cut percussion:  there certainly are some interesting elements to this finishing track (as there are buried elsewhere), but ultimately it doesn’t do enough to save the rest of the album.

A strictly mediocre 5/10.

About Mark Ashby

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