Style: Post-metal, black metal (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Julie Christmas, Cult of Luna, Myrkur, Sylvaine
Country: Germany/Greece
Release date: 27 February 2026

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There are few things I love more than a good gimmick. This review arrives at the tail end of what I’d describe as a small, self-indulgent critical arc. My last two reviews for this publication covered a band called HÉR and an EP called Her Side, and so—unable to resist having a Feminist Moment—I found myself picking up an album for review whose title merely contains the word “her”, entirely by accident of French morphology. Dumb? Certainly. But it proved a useful aperture, because German/Greek post-metal act Unverkalt’s most defining feature is, in fact, the woman at their center.

That woman is vocalist Dimitra Kalavrezou, whose breathless, whispery clean delivery is a striking mark on Héréditaire’s barren, blackened post-metal landscape. In a genre that’s prevailingly defined by amorphous, billowing, and slow-burning structures, Unverkalt largely align instrumentally, with a graceful yet heavy force that’s easily compared to Cult of Luna. But, similar to that same band on their collaborative Mariner album, Unverkalt break the formula in foregrounding a vocalist whose delivery demands attention. Kalavrezou’s girlish timbre is very similar to that of Julie Christmas, particularly when she breaches her upper register, as she does four minutes into album opener “Die Auslöschung.” Whether these almost child-like moments are affecting or abrasive may determine a listener’s tolerance for Héréditaire at large.

Héréditaire’s album art is an image of corrosive extremity, depicting a cloaked, kneeling figure who sits beside a pile of bones as its face melts away. Unverkalt are at their most successful when they lean into the dissolutive force hinted at by this mordant imagery. The harsh vocals from guitarist Eli Mavrychev interplay compellingly with the dainty cleans (especially in “A Lullaby for the Descent”), but Kalavrezou’s own harsh vocals are even more effective, shrieking and acerbic as they rive the opening bars of “Oath Ov Prometheus”. Meanwhile, Christian Eggers’ drumming cracks forward like a whip, driving the songs with compassionless momentum while tremolo-picked guitars sear across the mix in blackened streaks. “Penumbrian Lament” may be Héréditaire’s high point, as the frantic monotonal keyboard spattered across the opening bars rubs against hostile guitars, the resulting friction igniting the track in a fiery blast. 

Across nine tracks mainly sitting in the five- to six-minute range, Unverkalt largely stick to the playbook established from the very beginning of Héréditaire. Walking the unenviable post-metal borderline between smooth uniformity and aimless homogeneity, Unverkalt sometimes tilt closer to the latter, with a certain sameness setting in around Héréditaire’s midpoint. Repeated returns to the same slow-build crescendos and layered guitar swells risk feeling more like copy and paste than coherence. When the band do mix it up—in the heavier moments like those I mentioned above as well as a vocal feature from Sakis Tolis of Rotting Christ, or with the non-standard percussion and Mediterranean instrumentation on “Ænæ Lithi”—it leaves me wanting more. 

The astute reader may have already noted Unverkalt’s multilingual sprawl. The album’s French title, lyrics that shift between English and Greek, and track titles in German, Latin, English, and French all add to a sense of diffuse identity. It’s difficult to say whether this is a deliberate choice to enforce some kind of cosmopolitan vision, or rather an unresolved question of who exactly Unverkalt want to be. 

In the end, my silly little “her” gimmick proves strangely apt. Ultimately revolving around the gravitational center of Dimitra Kalavrezou’s vocal performance, Héréditaire is a compelling but slightly unresolved work. From air-splitting shrieks to delicate melodies that hang trembling over the wreckage, the vocals grant a sharp outline to Unverkalt’s identity. Should the band lean further into the volatile contrasts already presented here—the sweetness and the abrasion, the intimacy and the enormity, the familiar post-metal currents and the emergent folkish textures—they may ride those slow-rolling currents to something truly remarkable.

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Recommended tracks:  Ænæ Lithi, Penumbrian Lament, I, the Deceit
You may also like: Feversea, Dreadnought, Celeste, Oathbreaker
Final verdict: 6/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram

Label: Season of Mist

Unverkalt is:
– Dimitra Kalavrezou (Vocals)
– Themis Ioannou (Guitars, Keys)
– Eli Mavrychev (Guitars, Vocals)
– Joscha Hoyer (Bass)
– Christian Eggers (Drums)
With guests:
– Sakis Tolis (vocals)