To be produced by such a reknown name is nothing except trivial and in some way YIDHRA has yet everything of an upcoming BIG band, cause believe me they have crafted here simple, catchy, yet monstruously heavy songs which you get quickly addicted to and isn't this something that characterizes most of the bands mentioned before ?!!
First thing that came to my mind was a bit of surprise to find all 4 songs of the demo here again, but no problem after all - as those ones were pretty memorable and allowed them to be praised as "best new Doom band of 2009" by quite many wise people ! And to say the least, Metoyer's work and some additional value in arrangments (that use of theremin is awesome !) give them more than a second life...
Basically on more than a couple of songs, you can expect an haunting tone that definitely owes something to St Vitus, not as full of misery but you know that extremely slow pace, not lethargic for a penny but fat as a pregnant mamooth and heavier than countless bearded bands ! well, don't misunderstand me, YIDHRA has its own distinctive caracters and this "Hexed" is musically not a copycat at all of "Die Healing" (why this one from Vtius in particular ? because of the stunning production of both that make some serious differences !) neither of anything else ;)
Not just the lovecraftian mythos that sets place in songs like "Witch Queen" (which is in fact the translation for Yidhra), "Ancient ones" and "Dagon" - creates an almost constant dark and creepy mood, vocals by Ted Venemann take also a great responsability in this - being very impressive in commanding and hexed delivery. They're pretty harsh for the genre, don't expect any melodic lines or high pitched screams, just a few cleaner lines (maybe that's where guitarist Dave let prevail his voice ?) can be heard on "Blood is the Harvest" and last song Dagon. And if other lyrics are not devoted to Cthulhu, you bet that they're not dealing about fairytales but about some more aspects of life and death, enhancing the cohesive overall and ominous soundscapes.
Sure Yidhra is Doom but not only... and this brings a bit of freshness to keep your trip high all along (a bit more than one hour!); there's indeed some tasty additions to their menu, I'd say that the groove and soaring melodies of the guitars in songs like "Raven's Flight" or "Conquest for Nova" have a few Stoner overtones, just like short but vicious and sharp breaks in "Oath Breaker" and "Mai Cob" could remind some classy (slowed-down) Heavy/Thrash of the late 80's !!!
I can not forget to mention the so fucking heavy and fuzzed-out bass and surgical drums attack which help too in feeling strongly the curse hanging over your head !!!
Holy shit, I can hardly believe that this is to be released only in digital format for the moment (all major outlets will be provided by Friday the 13th of September) but hopefully a deal with a german label is actually in the works for a vynil release within a few months... In any cases, we've got here an essential release that you need to put your ears on, right fuckin' NOW !!!
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