2006 • Some Place Else
The live concert experience is one of my favorite ways to enjoy music (although I don't get out as much as I'd like), but when it comes to pressing live music to record it always tends to lose a lot of the charm and purpose. I think that's what happened to Hæretici 7o74, as it sounds like they'd be pretty neat to see in concert but this recording of Haeretici, Schismatici, Excommunicati doesn't do much for me.
The group's overall sound is a subdued yet still pretty creepy kind of ritual ambient, with a substantial amount of noise and drone thrown in the mix. It's a tried-and-true formula, and it has promise, although its execution falls a bit flat. It relies a lot on repetition (understandable for a live setting) and the slow evolving of various layers of sounds, but on an album the three tracks all outstay their welcomes very quickly, almost to the point where half the album becomes skip-worthy.
That's a bit of a shame, since some of the sounds they use sound good and are constructed well. Samples of wind, ritual droning chants, electronic noise (almost techno-like in parts), glitch, synth drones, heavily processed voices, and a great distorted drumbeat on the third track... it would definitely make a great show. Interestingly, the music is back-loaded—the opener is by far the weakest, and the sound progressions get better as they go along, making it worth sticking around for that third (and sadly shortest) track.
But without any of the context of that live setting, the music simply drags on too much for me to enjoy it more than superficially. It's alright in general, but I have a really difficult time paying attention to it. I would love to hear some studio work from Hæretici 7o74—they definitely have the potential somewhere deep down—but the live album doesn't work well for them.
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