ZEICRYDEUS - La Grande Heresie (Review)

Written by: Blackie Skulless

Oh man! Talk about a record that catches your attention from the logo alone, if not the album artwork as a whole. Considering that it’s the side-project of the ax-master in Worm, and that it claims influences ranging from Greek black metal to traditional heavy metal, it could have been anybody’s guess as to how this is going to sound. Zeicrydeus is a Canadian project that only has one full-length record with no demo history, just dropping last month. Titled La Grande Heresie, it somehow manages to literally sound like all of those things at the same time.

So it shouldn’t be a surprise that Zeicrydeus utilizes the tactic of running with many moving parts in motion at once. If you peel back all of the layers, you find that the gist is a foundation of dirty but ultimately very melodic traditional metal riffing that mixes in blackened ingredients, namely blast beats and the occasional tremolo, topped with harsh black/death growls that also somehow swing the tiniest dash of melody. If that’s not enough, all of the instruments seem to take turns in the forefront, with bass solos being a regular occurrence, and explosive drum-fills engulf the entire gradient from time to time. Occasionally, synths might combine with one thing or the other to emphasize the atmospheric element, complete with dramatic shifts in tone under longer song runtimes.

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If this all sounds overwhelming, that’s because it is. La Grande Heresie may have forty-two minutes to work with, but I’d be lying if I said the weight limit is past-capacity and becomes its own worst enemy. On an individual level, every tactic is pulled off wonderfully. “Sous L'Ombre Éternelle Des Vestiges D'Heghemnon” knocks speedy power metal guitars paired with a bass lead out of the park, before melting into a doom/death center. I also have to call out “Profane Spells & Naked Swords In the Emerald Meadows of Nhaath” for running with explosive gallops under the more melodic sections wonderfully. In fact, I’ll even go out and say that the way the mastermind behind all roles makes such dirty riffs work in an otherwise clean atmosphere is immaculate. The airy feel of the bass and the synthesizers give what’s a menacing framework some relief, the rhythm sections are sharp as hell, and the Hellenic black-meets-early US power metal works as a very fertile soil. 
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But damn, a garden with too many plants will ultimately cause your crops to compete for space (and in this case, the “space” is my head). The vocals are absolutely an acquired taste, perhaps the only thing I’m not the biggest fan of, as they often feel like a softened gargle-shriek, but they do fit the general vibe and I won’t call them unpleasant; at the very least, you need to be in the mood for this type of thing. I cannot stress enough how fantastic the layers in a vacuum are, I just think there are far too many of them, and despite the constant re-listening, it remains equally difficult to pick out parts that aren’t a chore to listen to. Worm themselves toe this line as well, but I think they managed to cut things at just the right spot on their latest two releases. Perhaps more time will make me appreciate this, and I truly respect what’s being done, but I also think some refinement with a less heavy hand will do wonders.
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Zeicrydeus - La Grande Heresie was released April 17th, 2025 via Productions TSO. Find it on Bandcamp here!

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Zeicrydeus can be found at Bandcamp
Visuals: Logo By Ghorn, Layout by Foudre Noire, Painting by Ferdinand Knab​