Zapowiedź debiutu OERHEKS

 

On November 24th internationally, Amor Fati Productions and Babylon Doom Cult are proud to present Oerheks' highly anticipated debut album, De Stroom. Amor Fati will handle the CD and vinyl versions while Babylon Doom Cult will handle the tape version.

Since their first recorded appearance with the Cagghenvinna demo in 2022, in seemingly swift succession, Belgium's Oerheks have invigorated Flemish black metal. Pagan in approach, recalling stories as olde as the Hageland, the band's black metal is stridently ancient but by no means blinkered to the past. Which is not surprising, given that the mainman is a maverick: the ever-prolific Hans Cools, renowned for labelmates Silver Knife, LVTHN, and Häxenijzrkell among many others. To date, Oerheks have released a total of five demos - two of them are album-length, actually - heightening the anticipation for what the band's debut album would look / sound like.

Indeed, Cools has outdone himself in both aesthetics with Oerheks' full-length debut, De Stroom. With cover artwork and album layout inspired by classical music and soundtrack LPs from the '70s, '80s, and '90s - the ensemble created by visual artist Pierre Perichaud, photographer Davy Prenen, and layout wizard Dan Fried, each masterminds in their respective fields - evinces a sort of modernist ruralism, so, too, can such be felt in the sonics of De Stroom. Impossibly, beautifully ethereal and ragingly violent simultaneously, Oerheks issue forth a tempest of gleaming, glittering obsidian whose reflections drift deeply into the beyond - and into the soul. Every strum of the guitar, each snare hit, each desperate howl...all swirl together into an eternally ebbing landscape that's psychically and even physically tied to its thematic focus. This is a marriage of form and content, thought and deed - of ascendent atmosphere and pushed-to-the-brink physicality, cresting and crashing with pathos and portent.

Suitably epic, the four-song / 41-minute De Stroom is inspired by water and its impact on the landscape of Cagghenvinna, the Demer valley, and the Hageland region. It's a saga about ancient seas, rain and floods, and the ever-evolving meanders of the Demer and the everlasting journey from source to flood.

To celebrate the momentous arrival of De Stroom, Oerheks will be performing at a record-release show in Antwerp on December 4th. Joining them will be the aforementioned Häxenijzrkell and Ihloosuhree. Further info can be found HERE.

In the meantime, hear the brand-new track "De Vloed Vervloekt" HERE at Amor Fati's official YouTube channel. Aforementioned cover artwork and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Oerheks' De Stroom

1. Herovering der Diestiaenzee [12:09]

2. De Vloed Vervloekt [9:10]

3. Veranderende Demermeanders [14:42]

4. Oerwater [4:43]