Hemelbestormer

A RING OF BLUE LIGHT DUTCH POST-METALLERS SET THEIR SIGHTS ON THE COSMOS Dutch quartet Hemelbestormer’s second full-length sees them continue their instrumental experiments. Veterans of former sludge, black metal and hardcore outfits, on A Ring Of Blue Light their influences do battle on a mountainous scale, thunderclouds of doom metal pierced by lightning bolts of piercing instrumentals. Eight Billion Stars is a suitably grandiose introduction, pummelling shock waves with eerie atmospheric undertones that soon give way to the cosmos, expansive and full of shimmering leads. Redshift is fraught with consternation, slower, more contemplatively downbeat, before The Serpent Bearer’s alternating moods and classically brazen riffs bring the journey to a close. Hemelbestormer have gone to great lengths to craft an absorbing musical journey, but without the projected visuals of their live show there isn’t much going on in the record to set them apart. Not so much pioneers of the post-metal space race, more also-rans.

FOR FANS OF: BOSSK, RUSSIAN CIRCLES, YEAR OF NO LIGHT

TOM O’BOYLE