Five songs totalling nearly 21 minutes is what the Swedish band Hersir presents us on their second demo ‘Hateful Draugar’ that saw its release in March 2023. Musically the band’s Black Metal can be described as something that’s pretty close to the later albums of Behexen but with a hint of Norwegian Black Metal like Mayhem and Emperor. It may not have the unbridled violence of Behexen’s latest work ‘The Poisonous Path’, but it has a similar vocal style and overall song pattern. And it may not be nearly as majestic and virtuose as some of the classic Emperor material, but there certainly is a flair of their riffs and a touch of background keys on top of those classic Mayhem riffs. A song like ‘The Fiddler’ harbors a lot of typical Swedish 90’s Black Metal melodies as well and is probably the closest to the material of Hersir’s first demo ‘The Old Domains of a Wicked Wraith’, although ‘Hateful Draugur’ shouldn’t be considered as a massive departure from the band’s only other release either.
Hersir leaves an excellent impression with this demo, coming to a ferocious sound courtesy of snappy drums, raw guitars, thick bass and passionate growls and screams. It may not be as all-consuming as Behexen, but comes fairly close and the infusion of old school Scandinavian riffs make ‘Hateful Draugar’ a more than pleasant listen and has me curious to hear follow-up material.
