Enthroned by Persecution

Hegemony are a recently formed ensemble hailing from Birmingham, Alabama. They play what is known as “war metal”: a mixture of death and black metal relying on simple but brutal riffs played on low-tuned instruments, accompanied by furious drumming, a muddy, raw production and characterized by well-distinct aesthetics. The genre was born at the beginning of the 1990s, renouned bands belonging to this style include Blasphemy, Archgoat and so on. War metal musicians tend to employ picturesque stage names: for example, Hegemony’s drummer nickname is “Sadistic Berserker of Maniacal Desecration & Ruination Wielder”. That’s a cute name, don’t you think? Jokes aside, lyrics mainly deal with themes of desecration, blasphemy, violence and obviously war, and while on stage the musicians use to dress in leather clothes adorned with lots of spikes, nails and chains, exhibited in an unmistakeable fashion.

After reading this long but necessary introduction, I think you will already have got an idea of how “Enthroned by Persecution” sounds like. All in all, war metal isn’t a genre particularly known for its sperimentation or eclecticism, and indeed Hegemony here are not reinventing the wheel by any means; however, great production values, solid songwriting and a fantastic performance by the band not only make “Enthroned by Persecution” an enjoyable and entertaining album, but also set the blueprint for the well-deserved underground reputation of Hegemony as a real force to be reckoned with.

“Enthroned by Persecution” relies on an old school but bulletproof recipe: the songs rely on primitive, extremely brutal chord-based riffing, accompanied by chaotic, Slayer-esque solos and unforgiving drumming, to build up an atmosphere of gloomy, apocalyptic violence; meanwhile, vocalist “Desolate Oppressor of Structural Annihilation & Fanatical Deathtitan” throws into this real orgy of violence his brutal, guttural growls and the occasional rabid scream, displaying his mastery behind the microphone especially when it comes to his lows. The whole lot is seasoned by a perfectly fitting production, consisting in totally badass, muddy guitar tones and raw-sounding drums and vocals, but without sacrificing anything in the process (even the bass guitar is clearly audible for most of the time), thus resulting in a rough, but extremely balanced and modern mix.

That said, this album does have a couple of flaws: first of all, the unnecessary long intro to the first track (“Exalted March of Decimation”), which is cool but results a bit monotonous after the minute and a half mark: honestly not the best way to start the album, but aside from the intro’s excessive length the rest of the song is cool. Second, the tracks, although solid and enjoyable, tend to sound a bit samey one to the other, with the exception of the two standout tracks “Driven by Hedonistic Vice” and “Ruination Sacrifice”; again, war metal isn’t a genre particularly known for its variety, but experimenting a bit more with different kinds of riffs and song structures would have benefited the final product.

All in all, Hegemony aren’t innovating anything with their “Enthroned by Persecution”: nevertheless, the impeccable performances of the musicians, solid songwriting and spicy production result in an enjoyable and promising effort, palatable to any extreme metal aficionado. Definitely an album to check out.

Originally written for: The Metal Observer.