Poland - a predominantly Catholic nation that on the flip side of the coin boasts one of Europe’s most influential blackened metal scenes, from the nefarious second-wave era with Thunderbolt at the fore in all of their Angel-raping black metal magnificence, to BEHEMOTH! As they stand today as warriors on the frontlines of Polish liberation. Black Altar, Blaze Of Perdition, fucking Vader… Putting this all together? Good, because there’s something even more brutal out there in Polska these days; something that comes straight out of the basement - dripping sweat and blasphemy - cock still hard from the kill and Christian blood running through its fingers. From out of the filthiest swine-pits of Hell and into our wretched present day, Heretique - bastard sons of the virgin whore and desecrators of innocent flesh - have emerged. On Christmas Day of last year, while the sheep circle jerked to the nativity and blew their loads upon their precious Bibles in the name of Christ almighty, Heretique unleashed their third LP, Bestias Hominum, via Iron Blood and Death Corporation.

 

Much like if Entombed and Kataklysm fucked and had a baby, but with this classic Florida, USA rape ‘em, torture ‘em and slaughter ‘em in the basement vibe. And was that a dude cumming I just heard at the end of 'Masto-Driver'? A little early Broken Hope worship as I’m reminded of their carnal classic “Engorged With Impiety” - an homage to a lost concept within the world of death metal - hardcore fornication. Other fun clips include a few moments worth of asphyxiate ‘em to some Heretique-level good times during 'Drowning' - 45 seconds worth of unfiltered masochistic debauchery. For a balls through the grinder, Six Feet Under - “Haunted” type bruiser of an album, there’s a broad scope of dynamic range put on display throughout bangers like 'Lord Of The Flies' that crunch testicles with dense, hammering riffs and eviscerate clits with blistering leads. I guess we’re on to some ethereal otherworldly shit now? The intro to the blasphemous 'Sister Bernadette' resonating like something off of an Emperor record before towering blackened tremolos a la Belphegor unfold seamlessly into some greasy black & roll, “we’ll rape a Nun, but we got some heart & soul”, riffs and enchanting clean arrangements; a track that pays a worthy homage to the Black Mark.

 

Thrash too, man… Like fucking Kreator-heralding stuff transpiring during 'Brother Darius': intricate, chugging progressions, perpetual double-bass currents and more… fucking… guitar solos. Once again blackened to perfection in the spirit of torched churches and basement-recorded black/death metal… Prepare to bang your fucking heads, kids, because the riffs are plenty. It can get a bit repetitive, but there’s always something astonishing just beyond when things start to become redundant. Edge of your seat death metal? Not quite, more like a comfortable slow kill committed someplace desolate yet warm and familiar. Taking their time as someone who’s grown past the early stages of bloodlust and into that zone where each ghastly moment of ending this pig’s life can be savored, rather than succumbing to the rage would.

 

There’s a unique melding together of death, black and thrash metals that takes place here; resulting in blackened death that actually sounds a bit more American than perhaps Heretique had intended, and there’s nothing wrong with that. You’ve listened to USDM, right? One thing we do well over here along with thrashing your dicks off, swilling Budweiser and stoking up the mosh pits. You know, entry level metal culture. There’s some of that here. The grooves get to be a bit much as I mentioned before and they start to feel like some cheesy Jungle Rot shit after you’ve been drilled with the same riffing pattern and developed a hemorrhoid. But as I also mentioned before, always into something special do they transform, and thus making for quite the irresistible death metal LP. All things grotesque, blasphemous and generally fucked up to be found during each moment of Bestias Hominum. Remember when death metal was actually disturbing? Like the mystique and the fucking depravity of it that once had suburban mothers fearing for the innocence of their precious little fucker who just last year collected X-Men comics and now listens to songs about cumming on dead bodies. Heretique do a nice job of capturing the essence of those shocking first days and that’s exactly what’s missing from DM currently. That’s one of a handful of reasons I can feel good about Bestias Hominum and more desecrations to come out of Heretique.

 

Rating: 7.5 out of 10