Unverkalt have always been drawn to the edge. Since emerging from Greece’s underground catacombs in 2017, the five-piece post-metal band have balanced boundless atmosphere with suffocating heaviness. But now, on their upcoming third album and first for Season of Mist, they are plunging into the darkness that’s always waited for them below. While wrestling with the weight of our accursed history, Héréditaire now stands as their heaviest and most heartfelt offering.
“The contrasting elements at play in Héréditaire, from the gloomy to the raging and the eerie to the explosive, make it a compelling listen that rewards over time”, Dead Rhetoric writes in an 8/10 review. “Unverkalt grapple with the emotions and atmosphere with masterful tone and intention, eliciting a response that leave you reflecting on what you just heard and make you want to return to it once again”.
“This is an album that refused resolution because resolution would be dishonest”, Metal Kaoz writes in a 10/10 review. “Is there a light at the end of this tunnel? There’s no promise of one, only the insistence that you keep walking”.
Héréditaire was released yesterday, February 27 on Season of Mist, and you can hear all nine foundation-shaking songs by listening to the full album playlist on the Season of Mist YouTube channel.
“Our aim has always been to blend softer, more romantic elements with extreme chaos. With Héréditaire that time has now come”, Unverkalt’s guitarist and chief composer Themis Ioannou says. “This album is a lament for what is far older than our very existence. It speaks of what seeps through generations, searching for an answer to one pervasive question: What do we carry that was never ours?”
Order the album here: https://orcd.co/unverkalthereditaire
Unverkalt are still possessed by a cinematic vision for post-metal. As if coming into focus, lead single “Die Auslöschung” appears from behind a slow-moving haze before it’s snapped out of its trance by fiery blast beats. But whereas the band’s previous albums took cues from French painting and European film noir, Héréditaire throws back the velvet curtain in favor of a veil. “Oath Ov Prometheus” dismantles the myth of man as god’s perfection creation with Dimitra Kalavrezou’s freshly blackened vocals.
“We love to experiment with every album”, Ioanno says. “My two favorite genres are black and post-metal. With Héréditaire, we wanted to blend the two together. Introducing extreme vocals brings out all these heavy feelings. It’s like they’re shaking you awake”.
Héréditaire is a pulse-pounding new direction for Unverkalt, but the album’s arc traces back to our deepest and darkest origins. “The concept behind our new album ties in with the band’s heavier direction”, Kalavrezou says. “Each song peels back another blackened layer of memory, trauma and suffering, which linger over us like ghosts: invisible, yet endlessly present”. Beneath a surging bass line, “Introjects” rips away beliefs that were never ours but inherited like a disease between generations.
Kalavrezou’s mystifying cleans remain one of Unverkalt’s defining traits. But her contempt for those who watch the world burn is all the more heated when forged alongside her Athenian brother-in-arms and Season of Mist labelmate Sakis Tolis from Rotting Christ on the monolithic “I, The Deceit”. As the album draws to a close, Héréditaire ends shadowed in doubt for the future. “Bathed in lies / Can we make it better” she wonders before disappearing into the shivering wake left by “Maladie de ‘Esprit”.
“This album is not meant to resolve”, the band says, “but to dissolve patterns from those who came before, faceless yet familiar. The colors have drained. What remains is veiled in black, not as a symbol, but as a truth that covers everything”.
On Héréditaire, Unverkalt lift the veil on our cursed existence with their heaviest and most heartfelt offering.
“I enjoy discovering new, unique and compelling music in today’s overwhelming world of information, and I believe I truly succeeded with Unverkalt”, Sakis Tolis says. “This is an exceptional piece of art, worth every minute of listening”.
Tracklist:
1. Die Auslöschung (6:06) [WATCH]
2. Oath Ov Prometheus (5:40) [WATCH]
3. Ænæ Lithi (5:34)
4. A Lullaby for the Descent (5:11)
5. Penumbrian Lament (6:02)
6. Introjects (5:25) [WATCH]
7. I, The Deceit (feat. Sakis Tolis) (5:47)
8. Death is Forever (4:50)
9. Maladie de l’Esprit (5:34)
Full runtime: 50:11
UNVERKALT are drawn to the edge. Since emerging from the underground, the Germany by way of Greece post-metal band have balanced boundless atmosphere with suffocating heaviness. Their third album and first since signing with Season of Mist doesn’t continue in that direction so much as it plunges into the darkness that’s always been waiting below. Héréditaire lifts the veil from our cursed existence. What emerges is Unverkalt’s heaviest and most heartfelt offering.
“Our aim has always been to blend softer, more romantic elements with extreme chaos. With Héréditaire that time has now come”, says the band’s guitarist and chief composer Themis Ioannou. “This album is a lament for what is far older than our very existence. It speaks of what seeps through generations, searching for an answer to one pervasive question: What do we carry that was never ours?”
From the beginning, Unverkalt was born from an urge to give life to grief. In 2017, Ioannou started the band with vocalist Dimitra Kalavrezou in hopes of creating something that was slow-burning and visceral, crushing yet delicate. Their debut made good on that promise: “…so rivetingly beautiful that you will have to deepen to digest it”, Metal Hammer Greece wrote in awe of L’Origine du Monde. “Easily on the top-10 of 2020”.
The band’s second album followed three years later to further acclaim. While swooning between obsession and annihilation, A Lump of Death: A Chaos of Dead Lovers sharpened Unverkalt’s vision by pushing their avant-garde streak with more force. “Beyond being able to point roughly towards a couple of different genres, it is utterly impossible to compare them to any other artist out there making music in the same vein”, The Sleeping Shaman admired. Echoes and Dust agreed: “It stands in its own right as a beautiful slice of filmic post-rock, a soundtrack without a movie beyond the one playing in your head”.
Héréditaire is still possessed by cinematic visions. Like a camera coming into focus, lead single “Die Auslöschung” appears through a thickening haze before it’s snapped out of a trance by drummer Christian Eggers’ fiery blast beats. The album shifts between colors, textures, even languages. Stirred by a mournful saw of strings, “Ænae Lithi” raises memories of the Great Fire of Smyrna that were handed down by Themis’ grandmother. But where previous albums took cues from French painting and European film noir, this one throws back the velvet curtain in favor a veil. “Oath Ov Prometheus” dismantles the myth of man as god’s perfect creation with Kalavrezou’s freshly blackened vocals.
“We love to experiment with every album”, Ioannou says. “With Héréditaire, we wanted to introduce extreme vocals because they bring out all these heavy feelings. It’s like they’re shaking you awake”.
While Héréditaire is a pulse-pounding new direction for Unverkalt, the album’s arc traces back to our deepest and darkest origins. Amidst the tremolo-picked wreckage of “Penumbrian Lament”, long-held beliefs are swallowed into the void of guitarist Eli Mavrychev’s death growls. “It’s all sorts of dead ideas / They cling to us all the same”, Kalavrezou whispers, only to break into screams on “Introjects” beneath Joscha Hoyer’s throbbing bass line. “The concept behind the record is tied in with the album’s overall heaviness”, she says. “Each song peels back another blackened layer of memory, trauma and suffering, which linger over us like ghosts: invisible, yet endlessly present”.
Kalavrezou’s mystifying cleans remain one of Unverkalt’s defining traits. Even when trembling beneath the monolithic riff of “I, The Deceit”, her contempt for those who stand by as the world burns is heated when forged alongside her Athenian brother-in-arms Sakis Tolis from Rotting Christ. But as the album draws to a close, Héréditaire ends shadowed in doubt for the future. “Bathed in lies / Can we make it better” she wonders before disappearing into the shivering wake left by “Maladie de ‘Esprit”.
“This album is not meant to resolve”, the band says, “but to dissolve patterns from those who came before, faceless yet familiar. The colors have drained. What remains is veiled in black, not as a symbol, but as a truth that covers everything”.
On Héréditaire, Unverkalt lift the veil on our cursed existence with their heaviest and most heartfelt offering.
Recording Lineup:
Dimitra Kalavrezou — Vocals
Themis Ioannou — Guitars, Keys
Eli Mavrychev — Guitars, Vocals
Joscha Hoyer — Bass
Christian Eggers — Drums
Guest Musicians:
Sakis Tolis — Vocals on “I, The Deceit”
Songwriting Credits:
Comped by Themis Ioannou.
Lyrics by Dimitra Kalavrezou & Eli Mavrychev.
Lyrics for “I, The Deceit” by Dimitra Kalavrezou & Joscha Hoyer.
Recording Credits:
Recorded & Engineered by Unverkalt.
Drums Recorded & Engineered by Christian Eggers at Noir Surge Sound, Berlin, Germany.
Production Credits:
Produced by Themis Ioannou.
Vocals produced by Dimitra Kalavrezou & Eli Mavrychev.
Mixed by Joshua Barber.
Mastered by Lasse Lammert at LSD Studios, Lübeck, Germany.
Cover Art:
Themis Ioannou
Follower Unverkalt:
Bandcamp: https://unverkalt.bandcamp.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unverkalt/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@unverkalt/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Unverkalt/
Twitter: https://x.com/unverkalt/
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@unverkaltofficial/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/55vU7DZVwI4ks0NpfKDAvK/
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/unverkalt/1524174404/
Last FM: https://www.last.fm/music/Unverkalt/
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