Review by Anna on April 21, 2010.

Hermh is a group hailing from northeastern Poland, and apparently they have had a full career since '93. I have not heard of them. However, based on what I am hearing on "Cold+Blood+Messiah", their 6th full-length album, Hermh fits nicely and comfortably within the confines of the 'Symphonic Black Metal' genre. The style is rather self-explanatory, so I will not waste any time breaking this down.

The one stand-out feature that distinguishes Hermh from the others is the male chant and chant-like choir singing, which lends an "orthodox" feeling and undoubtedly, a heightened sense of grandeur. Hermh is certainly not skimpy with the "symphonic" aspect as there is plenty of depth created by the genre-specific elements. The music is well organized and the playing is clean and precise, save for the lagged blasting on track 2 that really disturbed and confused me since everything else is so perfect. Though the musical tone is specifically 'Symphonic Black Metal', I did hear traces of other metal styles infiltrating their sound. Track 7 was a nice acoustic bit that demonstrates this non-conforming "tone". Though I understand bold melody and grandiosity are features of this style, I still began to feel towards the middle of the album that the riffs were a bit too "easy" to comprehend. I most enjoyed the restriction of the chant "melodies". To me, these were the most successful points of the album.

"Cold+Blood+Messiah" comes complete with a DVD that features the making of the album, interviews with all the band members, videoclips and behind-the-scenes of the upcoming music video. The "ideological" agenda behind this album is briefly explained by a calm and well-spoken frontman, which tells me that this band is beyond blasphemy for the sake of blasphemy. It was quite nice to see genuine humility in all the band members of a Symphonic Black Metal band, and mildly delightful to watch the scenes of them compliantly getting their makeup done. The trailer of the video would be described as "awesome" by many, like a slightly glamorized version of a horror movie that takes place during the Old Testament. This is a great package for fans of Symphonic Black Metal.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 9.5
Atmosphere: 8.6
Production: 9.5
Originality: 6.8
Overall: 9

Rating: 8.7 out of 10

Review by JD on March 13, 2017.

Reviewing a band you have reviewed before can be a bit of a problem.  It can be a shining advancement, a stagnant same old shit or a complete and utter failure.  DarkRise is one of those bands that I face... after many years of reviewing – it is becoming that I am reviewing a band many times.  Let’s see what this act has done since their album Built. 

DarkRise from Switzerland impressed me the first time around, giving me death metal that was very traditional and yet held the unmistakable mark of originality and pure power… that was in 2009… this album was four years past that one.  Now let’s see exactly what the band is up to, and see if it matches up to their previous ones – or fails.

Right off the bat, you can hear DarkRise has advanced in their musicianship many fold over previous releases.  The trademark brutal death metal is still there, but strong melodies now add to the attack… add in some wicked thrash elements and even hardcore punk bombastic fury enters into the metallic vortex.  The results are simply brutal and right on the money. Take a listen to songs like bludgeoning riffs of  'Cold' or the punch in the nuts death metal aggression of 'Do or Die', it will take only a second to see that the band has progressed and now is even more of a potent metal force.

It is now very clear, DarkRise is a band that has not only progressed, but transcended out of the limits of the death metal label, but has shown the truest metal acts stay true to themselves – but grows into a beast all of its own.  Truly, this is one album, no matter if it is a few years old, most metalheads will enjoy.

Rating: 9 out of 10