HEIDEN just dropped their tenth album, CMA, three years after Andzjel. It keeps going down the same path but sinks noticeably deeper.
The band started in the black metal underground over twenty years ago and has never stayed in one lane. They've always mixed in progressive and atmospheric elements while keeping that dark, uncompromising core.
This time the music feels heavier and more oppressive than before. The Carpathian mountains aren't just scenery - they become the inner space where memory, guilt and fear all melt together. The riffs are hypnotic and clean but they keep shifting with small changes, so nothing ever locks in or gives you something easy to hold onto. Even when it gets heavy there's no real explosion or release, just more pressure building on the same spot. The vocals sit right inside the sound with real urgency but without sounding theatrical. The whole album flows as one long, slow-moving piece - the tracks bleed into each other so smoothly it's hard to say where one idea stops and the next starts. It leaves this constant cold tension and quiet dread hanging in the air.
"Temnoplodec" captures the album's vibe really well. It starts slower with an atmospheric keyboard line before it picks up speed, the riffs twist and push forward, and the tension just keeps rising without giving any easy payoff.
In the end CMA doesn't hand you any comfort or big cathartic moments. It pulls you into its brooding atmosphere and holds you there. For me it's easily the darkest and most honest record HEIDEN have made so far.
https://www.facebook.com/kapelaheiden
Thanks to Grand Sounds PR.
