Heruka
No Sun Dared Pass Our Windows

Second album for Italian band Heruka that begun its path towards madness in the year 2000, the first album arrived in 2018, they have a few EP records to their name as well. This one sees no sun dare to pass outside their windows, and that is probablt the window in the hospital where they are treated for the deepest sides of mental illness. That is the theme here on No Sun Dared Pass Our Windows, an album with a fairly interesting looking cover – the logo is a bit of a turnoff but the cover itself is pretty cool. And the album itself is interesting as well, not the most common thing when the bandmembers calls themselves silly things and looks like morons on the pictures.

When we listen to Heruka we hear black metal, pretty raw soundscape and pretty dark sound. I think they sound better than most black metal as they don’t just give us this meaningless wall of sound, but rather has nuances and dynamics in their sound which makes the album both darker and heavier than most of the black metal I get to review. The singer is black metal, screams and growls and grunts, just like they usually are, they don’t really differ in that regard, perhaps not much in any regard but the album is quite varied and shows a strong production. Pretty fresh sound actually, and I think they have their own sound not just a dull copy of something like many of their peers.

They take you into that mental ward and it is like being in that room where the white coats don’t understand and where the sun doesn’t seem to exist. The darkness is great, it is black metal as I think it should sound, dark, evil, without real hope. I like it. These guys really bring out their theme and they make a pretty impressive black metal album that stands out from the masses in the genre. They press the buttons I think a black metal band should and hit the mark with strong and fresh songs – it is not often I write that about black metal.

I enjoy this one and I think the title track is the best track of the album, but it is not the only song I find to be worth mentioning. The ending Let no One be Saved and the one called White Coats Don’t Understand are also worthy of mentioning. And all together I think that this band has put together a very fresh and very enjoyable dark album that should be worth checking out for anyone who enjoys the slightly darker reaches of the metal world.

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