From Bandcamp, "Three years after the acclaimed album "Andzjel," HEIDEN return with their tenth full-length release, "Cma." The album is a direct continuation of the previous chapter, yet one that dives even deeper into darkness. Once again, HEIDEN's music flows through the landscape of the Carpathian Mountains, not as a backdrop, but as an inner terrain where memory, guilt, and fear merge into a single current. Across nine tracks, "Cma" rises from silence and ashes, from images of remote mountain villages where time has come to a standstill, and from human stories in which borders no longer began in the land itself, but within people. Clean, hypnotic riffs and an urgent vocal delivery create a sense of inescapable tension — like a nocturnal flight through a landscape that no longer offers shelter."

The album has nine songs, and "Odmítám zítřek" is first. It marches in slowly, with a firm riff and deadly harsh vocals. There are also backing orchestral elements which keep the song grounded in evil, as well as some light Progressive elements that make sure the song is always moving, and the listener, always guessing. "Temnoplodec" eases in slowly, and that tension the band talked about is heightened, indeed. It hangs in the air, like a thick trough of fog that only allows you opaque views through it. You have to wonder, what's on the other side? Do you really want to know? Some things are left undisturbed. "Vodě" is a bit more on the depressive side of things, but still quite harrowing. The frightening elements pick up with a faster pace and the entire song leaves me hanging, suspended somewhere between this world and the next.

"Rozsudek" has a steadier entrance but the vocals, piano, and riffs combine to create pressure and unease for the listener. It's a short two-minutes, but leaves an indelible mark. "Bílý had" rolls in with an old school keyboard sound, augmented with the smell of death and destruction. The staccato riff notes act like individual snake bites deep into your flesh. There is a distinct darkness here that stays with you throughout each song. "Stěna" is another murky offering, and I get the visual of a hooded figure carrying out a ritual somewhere in the dark where no one can find him. At least, not that he thinks. The angry vocals represent the chants he has to carry out the order. "Snažím se najít srdce" enters quietly in the cover of the night, and the accented riffs sound like the footsteps of a horrid beast. Your sense of fear is piqued, and grows strong with each new passage.

"Svědek" makes no hidden moves, and it just bears the horrid beast for everyone to see, blood, fangs, claws and all. The riffs move in a hypnotic fashion, catching your ear before you eventually give in to their trance. "Poslední" is the final cut, and it sound like the deplorable aftermath following the apocalypse. There is nothing else left that lives, and the sky is greyed over with falling ash and fire. Overall, this was a delightfully tense album that lives in the forefront of your mind. When the band talks about tension, it's threaded through every song. It's not just an uneasy feeling, but more like a strangulation of coiled pressure about to snap. The vice tightens, like your throat, until you can barely breathe, and then you are snuffed out when the lights go out.