(CD/LP, Mighty Music, 2026)
An ode to duality.
Two truths can co-exist in a single breath: the instinct to live and the knowledge that everything eventually ends; the search for light and the strange familiarity of the dark. Perhaps joy needs the memory of sorrow to acquire weight, just as getting lost can sometimes help us understand where we are headed. We spend much of our lives trying to separate beginnings from endings, strength from vulnerability, light from shadow, when in reality they constantly bleed into one another.
These were some of the thoughts that kept surfacing while “The Tarot Of The Bohemians Pt II” was spinning. Questions the album quietly places in front of you and leaves there. And perhaps that is exactly what “Tarot” is supposed to do. I’ve been following Portugal’s Gothic / Dark Metal pioneers HEAVENWOOD, led by Ricardo Dias dos Santos, since 2008’s “Redemption”. I still remember how warm, huge and deeply atmospheric that physical promo sounded, carrying a weight that even TIAMAT and SENTENCED would have envied at the time. So, when they finally returned a decade after their previous album with “The Tarot Of The Bohemians Pt II”, I refused to stream it. I wanted the vinyl, the booklet, the artwork (no ‘shuffle’ button, no distractions) and to recreate, as much as possible, the conditions under which “Redemption” found me some 18 years ago.
Inspired by the esoteric thought of physician and occultist Gérard Encausse (Papus), “The Tarot Of The Bohemians Pt II” completes the Major Arcana journey HEAVENWOOD began a decade ago. Yet Tarot here doesn’t feel like occult decoration added simply to create mystery. It works more like a philosophical mirror, reflecting questions about existence, pain, collapse, transformation and continuity. Mirrors are funny things: they only show the reflection of the person standing in front of them. That idea gains even more weight knowing the album was created in the aftermath of a near-fatal accident and major personal changes. Mortality, perseverance and rebirth are not abstract themes here. Appropriately enough, the album begins with “Death”.
And no, Death does not arrive quietly.
The song opens with an almost triumphant character before quickly transforming into a Doomy, PARADISE LOST-esque procession, without sacrificing melody for heaviness. The interplay between growled and clean vocals is the chef’s kiss here, immediately reminding us how much emotional ground HEAVENWOOD can cover without overcomplicating their music. Ricardo’s voice has matured like fine Port wine: darker around the edges, richer in character, yet unexpectedly vulnerable. Hearing “the words become immortal as soon as they are alive” inside a song called “Death” feels particularly fitting. The contradiction is the point. “Temperance” walks along the same path, revealing more of that particular beauty HEAVENWOOD have always known how to extract from simple, carefully placed notes. The imagery of one vessel pouring the fluid of life into another quietly continues the album’s dialogue between opposites, while the music also reveals something else: this second chapter feels considerably darker than its predecessor. At first, anyway.
Then, “The Devil” storms through the gates with galloping guitars and faster tempo, wasting absolutely no time as Ricardo growls “impurity, the march for subliminal ties / abstract, seductive and bringer of lies,” right before the bass takes control and leads us toward a dangerously catchy refrain. I would have preferred the female backing vocals slightly higher in the mix, although keeping them partially hidden almost works in the song’s favor. What could be more appropriate for The Devil than something attractive you cannot quite clearly see?
True to its Tarot nature, “The Lightning-Struck Tower” arrives with a dominant bassline and strikes the ear like an unexpected revelation: the sudden collapse of something we assumed was built to last. Raw, commanding and aggressive, it still carries enough melody to remind you that, beneath the falling stones, this is unmistakably HEAVENWOOD. Then, we look upward. “The Stars” offers sweet guitars that immediately awaken memories of the “Redemption” era, while “The Moon” behaves exactly as its title demands: Gothic, elusive and half-hidden in fog. This is where that unmistakable ’90s warmth becomes impossible to ignore. HEAVENWOOD still carry the DNA of an era when Gothic / Doom / Death Metal bands understood that melancholy did not require sterile perfection. CEMETERY, LAKE OF TEARS, SENTENCED and TIAMAT occasionally appear in the peripheral vision, like familiar shapes moving through fog.
And then comes “The Sun”. That “Wildhoney”-like breeze becomes even more noticeable here, although HEAVENWOOD remain considerably warmer and more melodic than the Swedes ever cared to be. This is my personal favorite, partly because of that musical warmth and partly because of the honesty behind lines such as “far away I crossed the sea, from a distance I can’t fake,” and “we were once born as free… just a riddle for us.” Following “The Moon”, “The Sun” could have been reduced to its simplistic opposite: darkness gone, problem solved, lights on. Thankfully, it isn’t. The light here does not erase what came before it. It allows us to see it differently.
Right on cue, short and sweet “The Judgement” arrives like an awakening, carrying an almost Southern Mediterranean (Black) Metal quality alongside what sounds to my ears like a children’s choir. “The Fool” takes us gently by the hand and lifts the spirit with a hopeful guitar melody and a surprisingly colorful vocal performance, “like a wildflower.” After everything that preceded it, that innocence does not feel naïve. Final track “The World” initially feels somewhat detached musically from the rest of the songs, yet lyrically its placement makes perfect sense. There is a strong sense of completion here, especially considering we are reaching the end not merely of an album, but of a conceptual journey HEAVENWOOD began ten years ago. The circle closes without really closing at all. As the needle reaches the final grooves, the temptation is to flip the vinyl over and shuffle the cards once more. Maybe you will draw something different this time. Maybe you will simply be different.
“The Tarot Of The Bohemians Pt II” is ultimately an album about duality, but not the cheap kind where good stands neatly on one side and evil occupies the other. Ursula K. Le Guin once wrote that “Light is the left hand of darkness,” and that thought sits beautifully beside this record. Personally, despite all its shadows, I find this album profoundly positive. Not cheerful. There is a difference. Its optimism has been earned. To walk between shadow and light, Death and rebirth, is a lifetime’s work, and ultimately a path each of us has to negotiate alone. Yet HEAVENWOOD, still radiating that wonderful warmth of the ’90s, are generous enough to extend a hand and walk beside us for part of it. They do not ask us to defeat the darkness. They remind us that sometimes the only way toward the light is to walk for miles through total darkness.
9/10
Links:
www.FaceBook.Com/HeavenwoodOfficial
www.Instagram.Com/HeavenwoodOfficial
Tracklist:
01. Death
02. Temperance
03. The Devil
04. The Lightning-Struck Tower
05. The Stars
06. The Moon
07. The Sun
08. The Judgement
09. The Fool
10. The World
Lineup:
Ricardo Dias dos Santos - Guitars, Vocals, Bass
Eduardo Sinatra - Drums (session)