Review by Felix on May 14, 2024.

An American and a Swedish band meet under a German title. Welcome to Naturmystik, a split where Häxanu and Greve join forces. They have recorded more than 44 minutes of music, so there is nothing wrong in terms of quantity. Häxanu have got the first four slots and I think they deserve to kick off this split, because their excellent debut from the year 2020 has shown that they can forge ingenious black metal.

Sadly, the opener 'Mercy' reminds us of the bitter fact that an outstanding first album can become a problem. Even in view of the less fascinating Totenpass full-length, my expectations were very high and 'Mercy' cannot fulfil them. Stylistically, it follows the route of the debut’s material, but it sounds like a leftover of the debut. The song suffers a bit from little intensity and anyone who doesn't show full commitment in the social Darwinist world of black metal is quickly eaten up. Even the comparatively mild, 'Untitled' intermezzo, adds a comparable degree of value to the split – and it doesn’t add so much, to be honest. But Häxanu prevent a medium-sized disaster with 'Saintly Surgery', a brilliant, dense and stormy piece. 'The Winged Chalice' also celebrates some haunting melodies and especially during the fast parts at the song’s end, I get this exciting “Snare Of All Salvation” feeling again. Conclusion: Häxanu’s contribution does not show a band at the zenith of its creativity, but at least it proves that the duo can still achieve outstanding results, namely 'Saintly Surgery'. Finally, the well-defined production is better than that of their partners in crime, because Greve’s material sounds slightly blurred and less focused (but not bad as well).

And so I am landed in Sweden, ready for the four tracks of its representatives. Greve are a blank page for me, I have heard some excerpts of their music so far, but I never listened really intensively to their art. Now I hear a band that loves high velocity and typical genre melodies, but the single components do not always go hand in hand. Thus, the songs lack coherence to a certain extent. 'Gudaföraktets Ton', for example, is not bad, but it gives me the feeling that the band did not make the best out of the song. Despite its different parts, it expresses uniformity. There is no real arc of tension, and this degrades the song to a solid, but not great number. At least it is cold and fast, and there we get “true” Nordic blackness, something that almost never totally disappoints. Nevertheless, the material of Greve is neither infectious nor does it boast with a long-lasting effect. It is probably too harsh to say that they want, but they can’t. The usual components, for example very raw vocals with reverb on it, restlessly hammering drums and (halfway) atmospheric keyboard carpets do not lead to thrilling results and so the ambient outro brings a rather imperfect album half to the end. From my point it’s 7.5 for Häxanu, 5.7 for Greve and 6.6 for the entire split.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Review by Vladimir on June 11, 2024.

Cloven Hoof? THE Cloven Hoof? Back with a new album you say? Well I'll be damned. I was actually pretty surprised to realize that the legendary UK heavy metal band Cloven Hoof returned this year with a new devilish release, in the form of their tenth full-length album Heathen Cross, which came out on May 31st, 2024 via High Roller Records. Just when I thought this year couldn't get any better with oldschool traditional heavy metal, after so many influential and crucial bands releasing their new albums this year, this one managed to prove me so wrong and boy was I hooked from the beginning I saw it. Should we consider taking a nice trip to the cursed hilltop, with Sabbat stones and a burning Heathen Cross in the middle, while being haunted by an ominous figure in the dark? Hell yes!

Heavy, wild, melodic and catchy, those are the words that precisely describe what you are going to get with the Heathen Cross, as Cloven Hoof delivers a powerful heavy metal performance from the very get-go, leaving no time to waste and just immediately jumping straight into action. As much as this album is incredibly heavy and melodic, it also has some superb epic moments as well, introduced on 'Do What Thou Wilt', an Alister Crowley inspired track that states his famous lines "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law", and it surely cranks the energy up to 10. Ever since the band's inception, they became quite synonymous with the use of various lyrical ideas that stretch from fantasy, occultism and science fiction as well, all of which have inspired the general flow of every song, and this album is packed full of mood swings when it comes to the overall output. It's incredible how the overall performance on each song manages to capture the moment, especially on the most epic and melodic songs on the album, because that's when things get really interesting and it keeps you excited all the way through with such high anticipation. Outstanding examples such as 'Darkest Before The Dawn' and 'Vendetta' definitely shine on with their might and glory like the fire upon the Heathen Cross, but there are also some more evil and wicked bangers like 'Curse Of The Gypsy' and the atmospheric 'Sabbat Stones'. Sadly, all good things must come to an end, and in this case we have a solid conclusion to the album in the form of 'The Summoning', a good banger that places the last stone on the hilltop, rightfully concluding the journey of the Heathen Cross.

As far as the songwriting goes, it's moderately dynamic in terms of maintaining a nice balance with simplicity while still delivering a variety of eye-catching ideas that really give a nice punch to this album as a whole. For heavy metal veterans such as Cloven Hoof, I find it very hard to believe that they are 45 years old as a band, because their performance on this album, as well as all the provided riffs, melodies, guitar solos and choruses, sounds so unbelievably fresh that you would think that this is a newly formed band, while in reality being one of the key players in the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal. It really goes without saying that the result is a matter of dedication and being passionate in what you do, which is a seldom seen these days where you get a lot of mediocrity and uninspiring outputs that really aren't worthy of your attention, but in the case of Cloven Hoof, it's the exact opposite. What stood out to me about the album, apart from the amazing songwriting, is the cover art done by Alexander von Wieding, which showcases an ominous witchfinder looking figure, that reminded me of characters such as Solomon Kane and Caleb from Blood video games, and I think that the overall artstyle and depiction perfectly matches the vibe of Heathen Cross.

Overall, I very much enjoyed Heathen Cross as a whole, mostly due to its incredibly engaging and entertaining musical output which gave me a pretty good time all the way through. It's got a very uplifting feel to it which will definitely satisfy your appetite for some traditional heavy metal hunger, and I think Cloven Hoof successfully delivered on that aspect. Considering how many fresh ideas and strong songs can be found on this album, it would be a cardinal sin to miss this one out. If you are someone who really loves these guys, or anything that came out of the NWOBHM, I suggest you stop wasting your time and check it out.

Rating: 8.6 out of 10