Heartlay – The Alteration
Heartlay – The Alteration
An Exile
Release Date: 10/10/2025
Review by Beth Morait
9/10
In my opinion, France is becoming a fierce rival to Sweden for producing an insane amount of top-notch Rock and Metal right now. The sheer number of French bands gracing our inbox every day is astounding, and I don’t think I’ve found one yet that hasn’t made me go ‘Oh, OK? This is really good!’ regardless of the genre. Today, I’ve taken some French Industrial Metalcore from our ever-growing review list. And the band, Heartlay, have delivered a lesson in the importance of cover art, as it was the album cover for their new album “The Alteration” that made me want to check it out.
Musically, opening track ‘Suits You So Well’ throws you immediately into an underground club, hot and sweaty, and probably high, where the atmosphere is intense and sexually charged, complete with voluptuous ladies and well-endowed gentlemen wearing the tightest shiny black PVC, and pulling shapes on the dubiously sticky dancefloor, while the music of tortured souls emanates from the massive, but worn sound system that should have been replaced years ago, if the club owner had managed to pull themselves away from their raging addictions and spend the club’s profits on improvements instead. It’s sleazy, fuzzy, metallic, and tinged with Doom, but delivered with a sloid, moveable tempo. The vocals are gravelly whispers, and slightly tortured guttural growls, giving it a sinister, overbearing feel.
This theme moves through the second track, with steady beats like the strikes of an anvil, and an epic scream towards the end. But from there, ‘The Ghost From Within’ becomes a little sharper, and more of a Gothic melody. It’s got a catchy guitar line, and the vocals are actually sung. But it has a slightly spaced-out, ethereal quality to it, mainly because of the heavy use of reverb, and a second vocal line tracking the first, sitting way, way back in the mix so you almost don’t notice it. This is a technique that’s repeated throughout the album. It makes the track sound very expansive and grand, almost like it’s being performed in an empty church late at night, shrouded by darkness.
A lot in here reminds me of the gentler side of Fear Factory (if you can call it that, but you’ll understand what I mean when you listen to the album) and indeed Fear Factory’s Burton C Bell’s collaborations with another of my favourite musicians, Jayce Lewis. It’s the unforgiving, droning bass lines, along with the slow building and layering of instruments and vocals that build tension and an air of apprehension throughout each song. ‘Shadow So Withdrawn’ is a great example of this. It grows and swells throughout, until the final quarter of the song, where the vocals ramp up the Metalcore element, and the instruments hit harder and harder.
Melody is also a vital part of Heartlay’s music, but where the melody takes the lead, that double vocal tracking technique is used masterfully to give it a robotic, inhuman feel, and a huge air of mystery. It’s dark and foreboding, especially when aligned with the more screamo vocals.
‘Held Beneath’ takes another twist on the vocal style, this time employing a more whisper-singing style, which moves it from the sinister into the Melancholy. It’s a proper Goth lament, in a minor key, slow and low, that you could sit and weep to for sure.
Title track, ‘The Alteration’ is a dark, lilting instrumental interlude that could easily be the soundtrack to the apocalyptic end of a futuristic film. Cinematic production is the lead, and again that’s something which is evident throughout the album. The values of creating a dramatic, theatrical experience are certainly not lost on Heartlay, which is something that’s also demonstrated by their stage look, which couldn’t be anymore gothic if it tried! I love it. It’s like The Crow, with nods to Cybergoth.
Album closer ‘A Path of Shades” is a stripped-back, emotionally charged lament that oozes the cinematic elements which have grown throughout the album. It’s like a gentle but cold and dark hug to depress you just that little bit more before it leaves you. A great, atmospheric end to a very, very good album. For anyone in need of a bit of some escapism to a land of devastation and melancholy, delivered in a dark way, this’ll fit the bill.
TRACKLISTING:
01. Suits You So Well
02. Eye For An Eye
03. The Ghost From Within
04. And Wrath Followed
05. Shadow So Withdrawn
06. The Duel In Me
07. Held Beneath
08. The Alteration
09. Defiant Discourse
10. As We Take It All Away
11. A Path Of Shades
LINKS:
Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Beth Morait and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
