Album Review: Haradrim – Death of Idols
Reviewed by Rick Eaglestone
Sweden’s Haradrim take inspiration from the scene in their hometown of Umea with debut album Death of Idols.
The ominous nature of the albums title track ‘Death of Idols’ is brimming with a savage urgency but embedded throughout are hints of raw emotion and sweeping atmosphere with gives the blackened death style a new layer, this makes way for the predominantly tumultuous ‘Venus Falling’ which has some sublime guitar tones and towards the later part an unexpected slower tempo.
The combination of both ‘Tyrant’ and ‘Godless’ make up my favourite section of the album as the entwine effortlessly providing a great blend of darkness and light and that’s even before ‘Defiling The Spirit’ fires through the speakers causing an unexpected unholy trinity – if I had to chose one track from this album which I felt encapsulates Haradrim’s sound and aesthetic it would have to be this.
I saw the track length for ‘Nero’ and was thinking a short instrumental interlude, but I couldn’t have been more wrong it’s just over ninety seconds of furious drum patterns and prominent bass lines which sets up ‘Demigod’ nicely, this not only has my favourite vocals of the album but also some nice soundscapes.
The album shows no sign of slowing down with ‘Conquest’ which is followed by ‘The Price of Compliance’ which even as one of its slower tracks still manages to command attention.
Up next is the CD & Download bonus track ‘Acheron’ which fits in nicely within the context of the album, the band are planning a vinyl release but as yet there is no date announced for that, but I am eagerly awaiting to see if they do the same and include another exclusive.
The final track ‘Ashes of Warsaw’ is also the longest and gives the band a little more freedom, the tone drops almost into doom metal territory for its majority and honestly, it’s a great switch and if on future releases they want to go down that route a little more, well they would get no complaints from me.
Overall, this a well-constructed debut and with Adreas Gren producing and the mastering talents of Dan Swano, Death of Idols in certainly worthy of time.
A bleak Invocation
