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6 out of 10
The press release alone for Heirs made my balls tighten; from the list of influences to the casual mentioning of James Plotkin mastering their album, this compact disc would have to spit in my face, shit in my CD player and then rape my virginal (not to mention underage) speakers for me not to like it, but to be honest it would still be doing pretty well, I mean it's not every day that a CD goes all "de Sade" on audio equipment is it?
On with the real words now then, Plague Asphyx certainly draws on a certain JKB's previous body of work, although we are talking early days, not Napalm Death early however. That's right Godflesh early and although this ticks all the boxes a slight feeling of running at half power is present. Then Mockery starts up sounding like Isis, Grails, Earth and Swans fighting in a sack, where the sack is a recording studio and their weapons of choice are sound waves, which, I must add, are being flung about, not so much willy-nilly but certainly with gusto, even if it is organised. Low level rumblings abound make up a rather meaty mid section before graciously giving way to a more sustained melody and then finally dying out in a repetitive stream of feedback.
Heirs hail from a city that brings back shaky memories of colossal consumption, gallons of goon, kerb hugging and the loss of a passport, make of that what you will and so it could be these connotations of fast paced snapshot euphoric lightning recollections that halts any affinity between the music that Heirs play and that easterly city, obviously that is my own fault and should not reflect upon Alchera ... but it does, however as soon as I write I must retract because the flattening castigated conclusion of Cabal wiped the spit from my mouth, which still contained the crystallised echoes of my daft thoughts from not a moment earlier. This is where the album really finds its rhythm with the stomping riff and war conjuring drumming of Mandril sounding like a march to doom, destruction and death.
Heirs are certainly vying for their inheritance, unfortunately for them they will have to wait a while longer, as their rock comes across a little too calculated, perhaps the baking heat of 'Stralia is not the right climate to accurately capture the spiralling helix of hope and despair that so well befits this type of music. Yet a "writing off" this is not and I will happily listen out, with ears open wide, for any further advances from the Heirs camp.
Listen: www.myspace.com/heirsmusic
Tracklist:
1. Plague Asphyx
2. Mockery
3. Cabal
4. Mandril
5. The White Swell
6. Russia
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