HeKz - 2023 - Terra Nova [mini-review]

(85:00; BMH Audio)

UK band HeKz are out with the album "Terra Nova", and progressive rock is the style explored on this production. Or possibly progressive metal. It is a very interesting blend of elements we are presented with here, and one of the first impulses that strikes you as a listener is that this is a band well aware of their 80's heavy metal and hair metal. Next up in the associations department we get Kansas, with quite a few sections that would have been perfectly situated on the debut album of that notable US progressive rock band. Throughout this production the associations and expansions of the landscapes keep on coming too, and it is crystal clear that this is a crew as aware of Dream Theater as they are familiar with classic era Genesis. A little bit of a flirt with Fish-era Marillion is a part of the experience too, and that this is a band with members that are well aware of an artist such as Neal Morse appears to be certain as well. The most important bit about an album that is as widespread as this one in the associations department is that the songs come across as pieces of one puzzle rather than pieces taken from a few different ones. And in my book at least this comes across as a unified production with a uniform style. A style that contains and includes a number of different details pulled in from other sources, but used and assembled in a logical manner to create something wholesome and worthwhile. An album to seek out by those who appreciate classic era progressive metal just as much as they cherish classic era and retro-oriented progressive rock.

Olav "Progmessor" Björnsen, November 2023

Links:
https://www.hekztheband.com/