I like the beats and I like the yelling, 12th October 26

Hænesy: EsentiaOut 25th September on Purity Through Fire Five years ago this Hungarian outfit presented an interesting proposition with ‘Garabontzia’, a black metal album crafted almost entirely from clean, reverb drenched guitar lines, working their way through oddly cathartic melodic hooks and chord sequences rich in pathos. There was no denying its proximity to post metal, a prospect that will reliably drive me to disengage. But this felt like post metal done right, or at least black metal playing to the emotive strengths of post metal whilst undergirding it with some substantive artistic foundations. Namely tension, strife, intrigue, excitement, the possibility of something, anything, happening. Five years is a long time to form new opinions and tastes. And although there has been a shift of the tectonic plates in this regard, it seems Hænesy have remained static. There’s no denying the aesthetic upgrade they’ve undergone in the interim, with a livelier production, broader timbral…