Hæster

Signed by dunk!records off of the strength of a single live performance, Ghent’s Hæster is revelatory when one considers their neophyte status. Upon listening through their debut record All Anchors No Sails, there is nothing about this band that suggests that this is their debut material. Seething with sheer power and boasting a supremely confident sound, Hæster invites comparisons to metal behemoths such as Cult of Luna and Mastodon. But it doesn’t take much further examination to see their own unique elements bleeding out to the surface to set them apart; bursts of organs and female vocals, disquieting vocals samples, guitar leads emerging to cut through the densely weighted riffs, swaths of startlingly beautiful melody – all of these things combine to add surprisingly rich dimensions to All Anchors No Sails that help it differentiate and rise above the relentless one-dimensional assault that can sometimes characterize lesser post-metal artists.