Heretoir – Solastalgia (Review)

The fourth album from Augsburg’s Heretoir is upon us, and once again they want to draw us into their Post-Metal world—a world I came to appreciate not least through their performance at Summer Breeze 2024. According to the band, the album reflects grief over the loss of the natural world and humanity’s alienation from our planet through cold rationality. And after the first listen, it was immediately clear to me that they managed not only to achieve their thematic goals but also to carve out a recognizable sound of their own. What struck me after hearing the songs was the pronounced interplay between clean and harsh vocals, setting this album apart from their earlier works.

With “The Ashen Falls“, Heretoir launches into the album strongly, but at the same time it already signals one of its weaknesses: in the first half, the songs feel overly long and don’t quite know when to end. The next track, “Season of Grief”, is similar— starting out strong but meandering a bit too much over its nine minutes. The riffs and vocals are excellent, but the drums pound too monotonously throughout; I missed the kind of interplay where the instruments not only complement each other but also clash against each other.

“You Are the Night” is, for me, one of the album’s highlights—a heavy track that dares to play with contrasts, a wonderful mix of harsh and soft, not afraid to slide from more classic rock elements into post-metal when needed. For the post-rock/metal fans there’s another standout that will definitely land in my playlists: “Dreamgatherer“, which achieves a beautiful blend of the genres. “The Heart of December” reminded me of the last Alcest album, which I also enjoyed—a similar mixture to the two tracks mentioned above.

But that’s where my criticisms return: songs that feel overly drawn out. With the rest of the album, I kept thinking, “Alright, now it’s over”… only for it to keep going. Even though the compositions themselves are solid at their core, they lose themselves too often. And what puzzled me most was including an excellent outro track, “The Same Hell (MMXXV)“, only to follow it up with “Metaphor“, an In Flames cover.

“While some songs deal with environmental issues, others focus on personal feelings and the challenges of human existence in a rapidly changing world”—that’s how the album is described, and yes, I felt that too. They manage to build a balance between hardness and vulnerability, but even after repeated listens I’m left wondering if less wouldn’t have been more. Too many songs lose themselves in their length, and I rarely complain about sprawling songs in this genre—so long as they can keep me hooked. But I found too often that especially the longer tracks couldn’t hold my attention, and with its 62-minute runtime, the album definitely feels too long. At its core, though, this remains a strong Black Metal / Blackgaze record, and Heretoir fans will certainly enjoy it.