Review by Greg on March 23, 2024.

It's always a curious and complicated feeling to hear something new from Bulldozer. I've already touched upon how the band was one of the main chapters of the Italian metal history, yet not many seem to remember that they also managed to get rid of their own heavy Venom influence and carve their own sound, which culminated in their gloomy swansong Neurodeliri (1988), both the perfect epitaph for the band and possibly a seminal work for certain fringes of the thrash genre in the years to come. Like many of their peers, they reunited at the dawn of the thrash resurgence of the 2000s, yet they chose to stay in a state of deep slumber, broken only by selected live appearances and their only 'new' full-length (Unexpected Fate, 2009) as well. The album itself was a successful synthesis of their old sound with new sensibilities, but their almost complete stillness surely was a remarkable patience test for us fans. Frontman AC Wild himself stated: "...I made a calculation: we took 10 years to release one single. If we plan to complete one album with eight more songs, we could finish and release our next album in 2101". Well, with such signs of almost creative bankruptcy (or just a lot of relaxing on their part), we're left torn between taking every little thing they put out as a miracle, and just giving up on a band which is clearly out of ideas and will, who leaves some 'ear candy' from time to time, but without much effort.

You know, if every little thing they put out is just like Heretic!, you'll be scourging yourself night and day for ever thinking about the latter option. It's that good.

Okay, it arguably doesn't qualify as a 'miracle', but Bulldozer managed to surprise me once more, by changing exactly zero things about their style. Either they rehearse in Dragon Ball's Hyperbolic Time Chamber, or I don't know how else to explain it. Heretic! unites the best of IX and Unexpected Fate in a single package just longer than 3 minutes. The sound is amazing, especially considering that Unexpected Fate's mixing never left me fully satisfied, there's even time for an ominous keyboards break leading to the melodic solo, and I'd also dare saying that AC sounds better here, even if the track was actually recorded before his health problems and (luckily) temporary retirement in 2019. You can really feel this man doesn't exactly like religion. The song is an ode to famous heretic (hence the title) Giordano Bruno and less-known fellow Pomponio Algerio, both victims of the Inquisition, used as a means to hint that, even if the procedures are different, in some ways the church hasn't changed that much since then. The song was also accompanied by the band's first-ever video, with Death SS's Steve Sylvester acting as Bruno, really worth watching. Highlight? The 'Burn in flames!' pre-chorus. AC is absolutely on fire here, and the Neurodeliri-esque keys are the icing on the cake.

If we'll ever get a new Bulldozer album, I'm pretty sure it will be unlikely to hear other 8 songs just like Heretic!. But hey, in the case it'll happen, you won't hear a single complain from this mouth.

"Perchance you who pronounce my sentence are in greater fear than I who receive it" (G. Bruno)

Rating: 8 out of 10