Gehenna |Black Seared Heart |Darkness Shall Rise Productions (Reissue/Remastered)

Release Date: 2025
Format: CD Digibook
Genre: Black Metal
Country: Norway

In 1993, right in the middle of the second wave storm, Gehenna emerged from Stavanger, Norway. While bigger names were already carving their legends, this band worked in the shadows and released their first and only demo “Black Seared Heart” in very small tape quantities. Decades later, Darkness Shall Rise Productions brings this early document back to life, after the vinyl release in 2024, carefully remastered and wrapped in a lavish digibook that treats the demo with the respect it earned over time.

This demo sounds young, hungry, and honest. The musicianship is rough around the edges, no mystery there, though the songwriting already shows sharp instincts. The songs lean toward mid-paced darkness, soaked in a cold atmosphere that sticks to the bones. The studio recording gives the material extra punch compared to most demos from that era, letting the riffs and vocals hit hard without drowning in chaos.

Keyboards already play a serious role here, adding eerie melodies that hint at what Gehenna would later become known for. They do not sit politely in the background. They snake through the songs, giving them a sinister glow and a strong identity. Even at this early stage, the band shows they understand how to build songs that linger instead of evaporating after one listen.

The remaster by Patrick W. Engel cleans up the sound while keeping the raw spirit intact. Nothing gets smoothed into something sterile. The added material works as a historical snapshot, especially the unfinished studio session meant for the abandoned EP “First Spell”. It shows a band pushing forward fast, learning in real time, bleeding ideas onto tape.

“Black Seared Heart” stands as a powerful early chapter in Norwegian black metal history. It captures Gehenna before refinement, before polish, when darkness mattered more than precision. The presentation seals the deal, making this reissue essential for fans who value atmosphere, early vision, and black metal with dirt under its nails.

Score: 8.0