France’s HURAKAN returns for the all-important third album, moving up to virtual abattoir of death metal, Czechia’s Lacerated Enemy Records.
Via Aeterna from the start reveals a darker, more seasoned HURAKAN, ‘Imperium’ slowly but deliberately moving into our field of vision, a hulking being, orchestral arrangements courtesy of Philippe Parickmiler adding just the layer the foursome needed to move forward. And thus we do, into ‘Void’, which isn’t so much of an earworm as the prior track, but drummer Thomas Cremier seems to have fixed the slight thinness I thought I was hearing before. Unhurried yet not lazy, this seems to be a new focus for the band as ‘Abyssal’ turns the energy up a few notches to what most death metal bands would call mid-paced.
The orchestration is becoming a bit expected now, and it’s too early to tell in its use with HURAKAN if it was added after the songs were turned in or if the songs were composed with such in tandem or at least in mind. ‘Charon’ has a few off-time moments that save the song right around two minutes in, and the chord progression that starts at 2:32 is liquid fire from an underworld river, memorable and molten.
We come across the Frenchmen at their most virulent/violent in ‘Resurgence’, strangely the most by-the-numbers death to be found on Via Aeterna. While not the best on offer here by a long chalk, it performs the function of not bogging the album down when it certainly didn’t need to be. The closing title track works as a suitable send-off for the listener, mostly instrumental and – dare I say – contemplative.
Here’s hoping HURAKEN hasn’t bitten off more than they can chew, and that Via Aeterna is the ushering in of a new dawn for the band that brought us ‘Intergalactic Moo Moo Imperator’.
Review By: Lord Randall
HURAKEN
Via Aeterna
Lacerated Enemy Records
3.5 / 6