creon
Vermeulen Bastien

Rorcal - "Αἵμων (Haemon)" (Premiere)

There is a phrase used in post-romantic classical music: Sturm und Drang. Literally meaning “storm and stress,” it was the composer’s endgame to be as bombastic, melodramatic, and, as the phrase would indicate, stressful as possible. The opera was meant to be like sailing through a maelstrom, intense both in sound and feeling. Metal’s bombast has always approached both sturm and drang, but very few really seem to echo that Wagnerian ethos in its entirety, and even fewer pull it off like Rorcal

With their fourth full-length, κρέων (“Creon“), Rorcal further descends into the depths of blackened doom and hardcore they’ve been digging over the past decade. With the immediacy of a hurricane, “Αἵμων (Haemon),” which signifies Creon’s latter half, deftly moves between aggressive black metal, bottomed-out doom, and thick, muscular hardcore with an ease which somehow also borders on the reckless. There is a tragic angle to this song, much like the story of Haemon, who took his own life after finding his wife, Antigone, hanged (thanks to Creon’s decree), and with that tragedy comes a rage. You can actually feel the band’s deep sympathy for Haemon, and an ever-growing hatred for the album’s titular anti-hero, especially when delivered through new vocalist ( and Khelvin veteran) Yonni Chappate’s throat. Even in this single act of κρέων’s four parts, there is that aforementioned sturm und drang, and Rorcal only continues to pound with wave after wave of deep, remorseful rage.

Listen to an exclusive stream of penultimate track “Αἵμων (Hemon)” below. κρέων will see a March 25th release on CD and LP (666 copies) through Bleak Recordings , GPS Prod, GRAINS OF SAND RECORDS, Lost Pilgrims Records, Wolves And Vibrancy Records, Division Records, Dullest Records, Longlegslongarms Records, and Unquiet Records. Is that enough labels for you?

—Jon Rosenthal

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