Hiems

Worship or Die

Now, diabolical | Moribund

One-man black metal bands evoke images of malnourished misanthropes in mothers’ basements. Hiems (a.k.a. Algol), Leviathan (a.k.a. Wrest) and Corpus Christii (a.k.a. Nocturnus Horrendus) are different. Like the movie Sphere, they turn their fears into large-scale reality. They’re sort of like Tony Stark in corpsepaint. Hiems has developed arguably the most advanced black metal armor yet.

Even Hiems’ debut, 2005’s Cold Void Journey, was heavy. No featherweight blast beats or gauzy ambience—the record marched with steel-toed jackboots. Worship or Die is similarly robust. “Wounds Just Death Can Heal” opens with a huge, serpentine hook that would make Behemoth jealous. It ends with a ripping solo that recalls the best of Kirk Hammett. The immense riffs and sly trills of “Scum Destroyer” are straight-up Tony Iommi. In between these monstrous motifs slither sinister countermelodies. When was the last time you actually headbanged to a black metal record? This one tests neck muscles.

It’s also quite the mindfuck. “Hiems” is a massive 11-minute epic (11 minutes of headbanging is indeed possible) that morphs into an honest-to-goodness Hammond B3 organ jam, caressed by watery clean tones. It’s soulful, eerie and evil as hell. After two glorious minutes of unaccompanied organ solo, the record takes off into WTF land: a cover of the Gun’s psych-rock hit “Race With the Devil.” Clean singing! Bluesy riffs! Swinging drums! In one fell swoop, Hiems has found the missing link between Watain and the Devil’s Blood. Bow down.

—Cosmo Lee

Username

Password

Forgot password

Register new account