Heavatar: Opus II – The Annhiliation

Label: earMusic  Playing Time: 59 Min  Release: 16.02.2018

Although there are some quite popular musicians in the lineup of Heavatar, this band might be still quite unknown to most Heavy Metal maniacs. To be quite honest, the band was also unknown to me so far. A big, inexcusable mistake, because Stefan Schmidt (vocals and guitar, Von Canto) and Jörg Michael (drums, ex-Stratovarius) have some really hot shit to offer on Opus II-the Annihilation. Their claim is to transfer the great classic composers like Beethoven, Mozart and Chopin into our days. But don’t get me wrong! It is not any form of copying, stealing or covering. The sound of Heavatar should sound like the music of these great composers would most likely sound in 2018.

I don’t know if the result is realistic in any way. All that I know is that there are some really great songs on this album. Songs like ‚None Shall Sleep‘, ‚The Annihilation‘, ‚Battle Against All Hope‘ and ‚Wake Up Now‘ have catchy melodies and choruses. In addition there are very often some more quite parts included that let you take a breath. A definite highlight in this way is the folky orchestrated ‘An Awakening’. Great! But when there this light, there is always also shade. Luckily there is not a lot of shade on this one. But the really bad ‘Hijacked By Unicorns’ is a dark shade. It is not only the name but also all the cheesiness. Really awful! Better skip this one …

There is one more thing that I would like to add. I can assure you there is no reason to fear that this could be one more of those Cheese Metal albums (except that one track ‘Hijacked…’ – I have to vomit again…). Yes, the band deals with symphonic elements. But the basis is always groove and Heavy Metal and the orchestra part never becomes too overwhelming. The last question remaining is whether Beethoven and Mozart would sound like this today. I don’t think so, but that does not really matter…

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