Hmavak's debut album, released by Morbid Chapel Records and Rotten Tomb Records, is the best example of what undiscovered gems the underground has in store. The six, mostly overlong tracks that bring the album to a total playing time of 40 minutes, should delight any fan of gloomy and sophisticated blackened death metal. Like the album title, which, by the way, was visually very appropriately implemented by the cover artwork, the listener feels drawn into a veritable maelstrom, from which there is no escape, because the tracks cause a partly captivating-hypnotic effect. To make the whole thing now in a much more mundane way tangible, you best imagine a mixture of bands like Incantation, Morbid Angel, Krypts, Archgoat and the unfortunately long gone Sonne Adam. Just by listing these bands, the inclined reader probably already notices that Hamvak are effortlessly able to serve different areas and moods, be it stripped down, dirty death metal, brutal technical finesse or slower doom parts. The art is to make all this sound natural and organic and as if from one cast, and Hamvak truly master this. It remains to mention that the bass often takes a more prominent position than in the usual death / black and accordingly can be heard very well and differentiated. You already notice, I am truly enthusiastic! All listeners of dark and ominous death metal with claim, which nevertheless comes across as raw and brutal, should immediately listen to it at Morbid Chapel Records and grab it! More about this masterpiece and the man behind it here in the following interview at Systematic Desensitization Zine!
