  HeirsHeirs is the marriage of dark and light. The pain and hopelessness of addiction vs the elation of freedom.
The name Heirs originates from an ideal of "hunting and gathering" musical ideas, and formulating these ideas into an improved version. To write music, without paying some sort of tribute to the artists influencing your everyday subconsciousness, is a dishonest practice. The name stands as a allegory - to be the Heirs of a musical history and to expand on this, becoming a part of history themselves. Heirs began as a solo project by Damian Coward (Maps, Love Like... Electrocution) in late 2006, founded by a importunity to create a personal sound and direction. Heirs expanded its lineup during 2008 and consists of Brent Stegeman (Whitehorse, Love Like... Electrocution) and Ian Jackson (Damn Arms) on guitars, Laura Bradfield on bass and Coward on drums. Heirs' debut full-length "Alchera" is a 43 minute movement of oppressive instrumental power, cyclic ritualism and bleak hallucinogenic revelation. Recorded at Head Gap Studios by Neil Thomason in the heat waves of Melbourne in Januuary 2009 and mastered by James Plotkin (Isis, Khanate, Burning Witch), the 6 pieces recorded capture the band's live volume - a blanket of sound traversing a rolling dynamic landscape. Drawing influence from MICHAEL GIRA and his SWANS legacy, the sledgehammer riffs and industrial pummel of GODFLESH, and continuing Stegeman's incense shrouded low-end incantations from his work with doom dealers WHITEHORSE, combined with Jackson's reverb-soaked noise, Alchera strips bare the needless excesses of post-rock and heavy metal in favour of something much more concise and affecting. A lurching, drugged-out specter - holding solace in one hand, and vengeance in the other. From the seething metallic buzz and bluster of the opening track "Plague Asphyx", through to the crowning low-end turbulence of "Russia", the recording is an archetype for an existence shrouded in confusion, joy, disappointment and addiction. Heirs are touring Nationally throughout Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Europe/UK for the rest of 2009. Dates can be found on their website - www.heirs.com.au ALBUM 'ALCHERA' REVIEWS 2009 MESS AND NOISE (AUS) When reviewing an album like Alchera – or any record, really – it’s best to avoid hyperbole. Suggesting that this record is near-flawless or that Heirs might well be the best instru-metal band ever to have sprung forth from the arid soil of this continent smacks of lazy journalism. Or worse, insincere hype-making. But it’s difficult not to heap such lavish praise upon Alchera. It really is that good. The record opens with bursts of sharply panning static, which eventually give way to the hefty, lurching rhythm and dissonant guitar squall of ‘Plague Asphyx’. Like Swans, Heirs use repetition as an end in itself: the cyclic pattern of drums become an almost never-ending mantra. The Red Sparowes-esque ‘Mockery’ proves that, in the right hands, the traditional post-rock build-up can still be used to devastating effect. At nearly 10 minutes, it’s in no hurry to prove its point, making the eventual payoff all the sweeter. ‘Cabal’ is slower and darker, slowly shifting from a bleak acoustic strum (reminiscent to some extent of the folk-noir of Neurosis’s A Sun That Never Sets album) to an ever-intensifying wash of cymbals and distortion. There’s another hint of Swans (their Children of God album, in particular) on the muted bass and minimal percussion of ‘Mandril’, which about halfway through is suddenly assaulted by a punishing, Godflesh-esque rhythm. ‘The White Swell’ is the least belligerent piece here, never reaching the ear-splitting heights of its cohorts. Its relative calm, however, is countered by closer ‘Russia’, which starts in high gear and just gets more intense. Even as the guitars fade out and are replaced by an abstract low-end rumble, their ghosts still linger in a form that will probably amount to permanent hearing loss. While the basic formula remains the same here – almost without exception, the songs on Alchera start quiet and end deafeningly loud – Heirs create variation through their innovative use of texture and rhythm. They eschew cliched arpeggios and jock-rock power chords in favour of a more intelligent approach. You have heard bands like Heirs before, but probably not many as good as them. Adam D Mills VICE (AUS) Drums are unreal aren't they? You smash the fuck out em' and it feels good. The drummer from Heirs approaches the drums with anger and frustration. Whether he's setting them up, playing them, throwing them into the car, or liaising with drum shop employees, this guy is not happy, and it shows. Heirs are fingering the pulse, hard! Now they just gotta leave the melody at home and make the ugliness, uglier. Lyle George Chelmsford III |
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