ninehertz

This is a neat release, although slightly deceptive to first glances – with only three of the eight tracks new, the remaining demo tracks that highlight the bands evolution to this point.

The Black Heart Death Cult are from Melbourne, a shoegaze quartet furnishing their songs with deliciously thick layers of fuzz to amalgamate in a warm heavy psych blur. The title track opens and is quickly into a gorgeous warped retro sound, indie psych with a haze settled over it, manifested through the guitar tone. I like this a lot.

They change up somewhat on Gloomraker, its tripped our sunrise-lit psych drone a beautifully relaxed and stripped back offering. The only downfall is its shortness – I’d have happily basked in its rays for much longer. The spritelier and fuzz-thick Pin Drops concludes the trio.

After that wonderful opening, the demo recordings that follow are a bit of a disappointment, if only in the drop off in terms of quality and clearness of sound. That being said, you can hear how they evolved to here on the flowery Revolutionary Tendencies, and the closing Far Off Distant Shores’ dreamy, doped sound – slower than you’d imagine, that slight odd timing giving them a unique slant – is good too.

If I view this as an EP with some optional extras, I highly recommend it and am already looking forward to their next steps forward.