Structure has kept a low profile, but 2025 is the year of their debut album.
After a very interesting first EP, Bram Bijlhout (guitar/composition, Grafjammer, live for The 11th Hour, ex-Officium Triste), assisted by Pim Blankenstein (vocals, Officium Triste, The 11th Hour), Dirk Bruinenberg (drums, Elegy, Place Vendome, Patrick Rondat…) and Robert Soeterboek (vocals, Lucassen & Soeterboek’s Plan Nine, ex-Wicked Sensation…) unveils Heritage with the help of Ardua Music.
From the very first track, Will I Deserve It, the striking duality of massive rhythm, melancholic leads and impressive vocal parts perfectly links the two worlds. The sound progresses at a fairly heady pace, but eventually fades out to join What We Have Lost, which begins very slowly and locks us in its cocoon of haunting heaviness. While the majority of the vocals are a gripping, cavernous growl, there’s also a bit of clean singing that adds a different dynamic before the two unite to create this majestic passage before the riffs become more energetic before joining Long Before Me. The sound is immediately more airy and dissonant, progressing very steadily under Pim‘s roars and plaintive leads that lull our spirits and let us calmly drift into The Sadness Of Everyday Life, which darkens its riffs without delay. The vocal parts also follow suit, drawing us into the darkness, but a softer guitar part shows us once again that the sound can be luminous, changing the approach before the lighter final followed by Heritage, the self-titled track that offers us a long moment of quietude. Saturation of course returns, but the track keeps its surrounding calm even as the leads come in to hypnotize us, and only the drums rouse us from our controlled lethargy, finally letting the sound break cleanly and The Feeling Of Confusion take its place. A few words, and melancholy takes us in its arms once more. Every note is very soothing, despite the heavy passages, and we feel transported to Until the Last Gasp, the final instrumental composition where ethereal leads guide our steps through the slow, massive riffs to the final layers of keyboards that let us return to our world.
Although this is not the creator’s first album, Structure offers us a real feat of melancholy. Each of Heritage‘s compositions resonates in our minds at its own pace, and the project makes a stunning entry into the world of Doom/Death.
90/100