Dordeduh – Har (Review)

This is the second album from Dordeduh, a progressive metal band from Romania.

Featuring current/ex-members of Argus Megere/Negură Bunget, Har treats the listener to 62 minutes of blackened progressive metal.

If you combine together parts of acts such as Negură Bunget, Enslaved, Devin Townsend, and Opeth, you’ll have a rough idea of the sort of high quality musical experience you’ll get on Har. It is only a rough idea though, as Dordeduh have produced an album that simply stands on its own.

This is a very diverse journey, with a lot of different musical ingredients. As well as the obvious ones of black, progressive, atmospheric, folk, avant-garde, experimental, and post-metal, (as if that wasn’t enough), the band also skilfully incorporate elements of electronic, psychedelic, and post-rock into their rich and textured songs. The band have a wealth of talent and ideas, and make these their own with the skill of true artisans. Dordeduh have crafted an album of individuality and personality.

This is black metal in the loosest sense, drawing from the progressive, avant-garde, etc. side of the genre to be used as the base in an expansive, immersive work of depth and beauty. Entire sections have more in common with progressive metal, or post-rock, or any number of other styles, than they do with any usual definition of black metal. However, there’s a beating darkened heart of unusually expressive blackened fury that sits beneath everything; sometimes it leaks into the music in subtle ways, while at others it bursts to the surface for a while with serrated teeth and blasting menace.

An impressive array of sounds, styles, and instrumentation have gone into the creation of Har. The album is as far away from the average run-of-the-mill metal album as you can get, and is extremely enjoyable, satisfying, and rewarding. Har is a special release, it’s as simple as that.