Xtreem Music from Spain, the label owned by Dave Rotten from Avulsed, has an ever expanding roster of artists in the most extreme genres of music; black, death and grind/death metal. Although most artists have released quality albums (i.e. Verminous, Kronos, Disgorge…) these bands are firmly rooted in their own respective genre.
But now, Xtreem have signed The Heretic, a band that defies pigeonholing by playing jazz intro’s, symphonic black metal, brutal death metal and hard rock on one album, and sometimes even on one track.

Chemistry For The Soul was released in 2002 by a small Spanish label which went bankrupt shortly after releasing the album, so there was virtually no promotion and distribution whatsoever. Xtreem Music took the opportunity to sign the band and decided that Chemistry For The Soul was too good to remain unnoticed by the public.

Listening to this album, I just can’t argue with them because this album is very strong and original. The Heretic take their influences from bands like Arcturus, Covenant (in their Nexus Polaris period) and I personally hear some influences from modern French death metal bands like Gojira and Korum. These are just rude comparisons because the style of The Heretic is unique, and can’t really be explained by comparing it to other bands.

To make this re-release interesting for the few people that already have the original, Xtreem added five live tracks that sound equally impressive. Given the fact that this album is from 2002 and that they have finished writing tracks for the next album, I just can’t wait to get that album in my hands. Until then I think I will listen to Chemistry For The Soul many, many times.