HERUVIM – Mercator
Release Date: 12th September 2025
Label: Redefining Darkness Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Old School Death Metal, Progressive Death Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Tech-Death, Doom Metal.
FFO: Pestilence, Death, Bolt Thrower, Edge of Sanity, Gorguts, Dismember.
Review By: Rick Farley
Despite half of the band being in Odesa Ukraine and the other being abroad, Heruvim managed to accomplish the completion of their debut full length album Mercator, releasing via Redefining Darkness Records September 12th, 2025. Amidst the horrific collapse of normalcy, the effects of war produced bombings, shrapnel, and forced conscription as constant threats to everyday situations. Travel was nearly impossible, as ordinary people were being snatched off the streets to fight in poorly equipped and dangerous conditions. Despite the threat of enemy missiles striking virtually anywhere and consistently at risk of being taken by authorities, Heruvim continued undeterred, unified by their love for death metal and the human spirit to prevail against all odds.
This not only gives Mercator a legitimacy of honesty concerning its brutality, but also an organic expression of real emotions felt that comes through their music naturally. There’s an uneasiness and sense of urgency that’s in presence, which adds real levels of tension and anxiety. An undercurrent of authenticity elevates this past just old school homage.
Musically, the buzz sawed toned, spider webbed guitar lines, mixed with nonlinear structures remain memorable, shifting and contorting over foundational low end and punishing, attacking drumming. A progressive edge with melody and aggressive old school death metal is delightfully classic, while also having a modern dissonance just beneath its structured chaos. There is a moderate tech-death coherence throughout; however, the overall tones are so ungodly filthy, that while precisely performed, sounds like slitting a throat with a serrated knife rather than cleanly and exact. It’s more refined than just straight bashing the skull in, but it’s still incredibly nasty and does not sound overly clinical. The cavernous reverb tinged death growls are gnarly, with the focus on adding doomy atmosphere. This is an extremely focused record but hard to pinpoint to any one genre, the thrashiness is as prevalent as its heightened gloom. Ample twists and turns brutally toss the listener around from one unsettling soundscape to another.
The crushing swedeath tinged sawing of Mysterium Tremendum quickly fragments into a mélange of Death like angular guitar complexity, only to shift gears once again into the realm of thrashy riffs and double bass. It progresses from brutal to catchy and back again while including additional nuances, but is still somehow remarkably focused. Otherworldly atmosphere, eerie guitar melodies over slinky basslines and walls of distortion all bringing a vastness not felt in the first part of the song seep in. The tracks cosmic aspects are far beyond its initial direction, making this one of many bright spots on this record.
Mercator sits at a short 29-minute runtime. In most cases I would see this as a negative and adjust the score accordingly, but in this case, the circumstances surrounding the issues in Ukraine and how incredibly satisfying this record is, the runtime works for me. It feels like a full, complete thought. The Progressive death metal trappings of Nulla Res brings to mind the spellbinding mysticism of Gorguts at times, while being unrelenting in its own gnarled vision of haunting, raw energy. The destructive nature of Gnosis is an explosion of old school violence with flourishes of stompy, angular grooves and ethereal leads, while closing track Lacrimae is full of melodic atmosphere that shifts from the cosmic to sludgy and back again all while carrying a disjointed progressive element that runs rampant through the record.
Heruvim is undoubtedly a skilled band. So, without dragging this on any further, Mercator is exactly the kind of death metal record that you should want; hooky with loads of cosmic aura, dissonant brutality meets old school songwriting, ugly tones with precise execution and songs that legitimately feel like they’re going to swallow you up into a void of existence. Shout out to Server Terlekchi for the killer album art as well. Easy recommend.
(4.5 / 5)
