This one man band known as HERESI may not be the first name that comes to mind when one thinks of Swedish metal bands but HERESI proves its worthiness with its second release, Psalm II - Infusco Ignis EP. The band harkens back to the more obscure mid-90’s/late-90’s era of Swedish black/death metal and and early 90’s/mid 90’s Norwegian black metal. Psalms II is a dark, depressing, misanthropic ride into a black abyss. There’s plenty of blasting intensity, melancholic melodies, and blazing riffing. The raw production only adds to the savageness of the album. Mainman Skamfer does a great job in taking on all the instruments and successfully continuing where many of the aforementioned eras in Scandinavian metal left off. Though Psalms II is certainly no The Somberlain or Far Away from the Sun in terms of sheer greatness and character, it’s right there with many of the second and third tier albums released at the time. Psalms II proves that “retro” is a great term when the music is done right. (Hydra Head Records)
