Unverkalt Unveil Heavy, Heartfelt New Album 'Héréditaire'

“Our aim has always been to blend softer, more romantic elements with extreme chaos. With Héréditaire that time has now come”, Unverkalt’s guitarist and chief composer Themis Ioannou says. “This album is a lament for what is far older than our very existence. It speaks of what seeps through generations, searching for an answer to one pervasive question: What do we carry that was never ours?”

‍

Unverkalt are still possessed by a cinematic vision for post-metal. As if coming into focus, lead single “Die Auslöschung” appears from behind a slow-moving haze before it’s snapped out of its trance by fiery blast beats. But whereas the band’s previous albums took cues from French painting and European film noir, Héréditaire throws back the velvet curtain in favor of a veil. “Oath Ov Prometheus” dismantles the myth of man as god’s perfection creation with Dimitra Kalavrezou’s freshly blackened vocals.

‍

“We love to experiment with every album”, Ioanno says. “My two favorite genres are black and post-metal. With Héréditaire, we wanted to blend the two together. Introducing extreme vocals brings out all these heavy feelings. It’s like they’re shaking you awake”.

‍

Héréditaire is a pulse-pounding new direction for Unverkalt, but the album’s arc traces back to our deepest and darkest origins. “The concept behind our new album ties in with the band’s heavier direction”, Kalavrezou says. “Each song peels back another blackened layer of memory, trauma and suffering, which linger over us like ghosts: invisible, yet endlessly present”. Beneath a surging bass line, “Introjects” rips away beliefs that were never ours but inherited like a disease between generations.

‍

Kalavrezou’s mystifying cleans remain one of Unverkalt’s defining traits. But her contempt for those who watch the world burn is all the more heated when forged alongside her Athenian brother-in-arms and Season of Mist labelmate Sakis Tolis from Rotting Christ on the monolithic “I, The Deceit”. As the album draws to a close, Héréditaire ends shadowed in doubt for the future. “Bathed in lies / Can we make it better” she wonders before disappearing into the shivering wake left by “Maladie de ‘Esprit”.

‍

“This album is not meant to resolve”, the band says, “but to dissolve patterns from those who came before, faceless yet familiar. The colors have drained. What remains is veiled in black, not as a symbol, but as a truth that covers everything”.

‍

On Héréditaire, Unverkalt lift the veil on our cursed existence with their heaviest and most heartfelt offering.

‍

“I enjoy discovering new, unique and compelling music in today’s overwhelming world of information, and I believe I truly succeeded with Unverkalt”, Sakis Tolis says. “This is an exceptional piece of art, worth every minute of listening”.