Artist: Heritage
Title: Of Might And Magic
Type: Album
Label: Digital
Funny how some phrases are found lodged in your mind and knowing their origin you have no idea really what they are doing there. Or maybe it just takes a while to pull the htreads together. I saw the title of this eagerly anticipated release (see my previous encounter with Heritage for why I might be excited) and immediately knew it. Just took a moment to follow the word game to the actual source; the PC game Heroes Of Might And Magic.
Which of course I never played. As it was a strange and dark time for me and gaming which had briefly flourished in my world with Doom had collapsed into a time of serious mental health issues and no hardware. But I have always known those revered words….
‘Obelisk’ opens with those smooth, effortless synth waves and the rich single notes like moonlight falling in drops on stone. The arrangement brings deep pulses of sound that to me bring a cold night into the world whilst the synths allow the sense of wonder to grow. It is a place of quiet wonder, too. Not fear; old and powerful and respected. Perhaps a place to inspire the journey to come.
‘Of Might And Magic’ itself in a handful of notes has already created an intense emotional reaction. It is strangely mournful, perhaps harking back to those days of the past when you first chanced upon this world. Perhaps remember battles long gone, faces faded to nothing but names. The sombre drum beats add to the feeling of lament, but also a stoic pride with the soft military beat. ‘Kyrre’ draws in from the broad world down to the name, a warrior of the woods, a ranger and the music has that sylvan flow to it in the strings. Perhaps like all heroes though they fight their hearts are always where they began; those forests they were born to, played in and fought to protect. Quiet, reflective and with some beautiful almost subliminal layering beneath the wistful melody. I never met her, and yet somehow this paints a picture to me of simple loves but resolute heart.
The deep and resonant opening of ‘Dwarven Lords’ really does seem to echo down vast, but silent subterranean halls. Like the music before it there is that sense of looking back, perhaps to better simpler times whilst standing in a place now empty of the life that built it and made it swell with pride. A slow walk, each carving or fluted column drawn out by the strong mournful keyboards with words lighting memories as we go…
‘The Gathering’ brings a gentleness to the light melody woven like silver in the darker cloth of the synths. It feels as though it is remembrance that brings these peoples together; graceful but strong arms drawing you close with no words needed. It brings great sadness to me, though, as though there is loss and its arrival was expected but still the loss hurts.
‘Spirit Guardian’ is where we leave this world. Like ‘Obelisk’ it’s magical tones and atmosphere mark a place where perhaps you could enter, but should you leave it radiates the assurance that it will stay and it will protect. The people? The world? Or perhaps most importantly this glowing, flowing spirit promises that it will take your memories and keep them safe should you pass this way again.
I love this album, I really do. It is somehow like sifting through memories from the composer as much as the world itself, a looking back to a place where imagination was planted and nurtured into memories of heroic struggles and proud peoples, and of names that still echo down the years.
It’s a time and a place, and being able to reconnect with such a world is for me an essential part of remembering those things that made you what you are and for the better.
Gizmo
