HERESIE

4.5 stars. On the album cover is a black and white picture of the five band members dressed in black with sun glasses on looking quite sombre. One of them is in a wheel chair, and if you look closely you'll see they are standing in a swamp with a mist in the air. Great picture ! And a clue to what's inside musically. This is dense, dark, haunting, intense chamber rock of the highest order. I had this playing at work this week when a customer said to me "That sounds like my halloween music". I thought to myself "There's no way your halloween music is as scary as this lady."

"La Faulx" is a side long suite, and it's pure brilliance ! It opens with various eerie sounds with no real melody. We start to hear a voice before 4 minutes as it starts to sound quite sinister. The spoken words continue until 5 1/2 minutes in when it's just plain scary as you can hear a multitude of voices crying out. Violins follow and we get a melody for the first time as drums beat and the sound pulses.The sound starts to build as does the tension in dramatic fashion. A good melody 10 minutes in, and this section is fantastic ! This is almost "normal" chamber rock and it's a delight to listen to. The song calms down as the soundscape continues to evolve and change until we get some violin melodies 19 1/2 minutes in like out of a horror movie. The last few minutes allow us to ease back into reality,the journey is over.

"Jack The Ripper" opens with deep, dark sounds as the violin plays over top and then drums join in. Solo violins before they are joined by flute, then drums as the pace picks up. Some dissonant violin sounds 7 1/2 minutes in before the song changes direction at the 9 minute mark. Some slashing violin before piano arrives12 minutes in and then drums take over as it ends with violin. "Vous Le Saurez En Temps Voulu" is almost upbeat 3 minutes in with percussion, violin and more. It settles down 5 1/2 minutes in before picking back up 8 minutes in with lots of violin. A haunting passage begins after 10 minutes and continues until the song is over.

This clearly isn't for everyone, but if you want to go to the dark side just to see what it's like, then check out "Heresie".