When Tony Iommi was forced to tune down his guitar in the late 1960s due to an industrial accident, he likely had no idea that this practical adjustment would go on to shape the sound of an entire musical genre. His deep, heavy riffs in Black Sabbath unknowingly laid the foundation for what would evolve throughout the 1970s into a full-fledged subgenre: doom metal.
Between the early and mid-1970s, bands began to further explore Sabbath’s slowness, heaviness, and bleak atmosphere. What began as a stylistic choice – slower, heavier, darker – gradually solidified into a distinct genre. Names like Candlemass, Saint Vitus, and Trouble became pillars of classic doom metal, each bringing their own take to the form. Pentagram is also often included in this pantheon, although frontman Bobby Liebling has long denied the label, despite the band’s undeniable influence on the genre.
By the 1990s, doom metal began fusing with other extreme metal styles. Death metal, with its guttural vocals and crushing riffs, proved to be a natural counterpart. The result was a powerful hybrid in which the melancholy and slowness of doom intertwined seamlessly with the intensity and aggression of death metal. Bands like My Dying Bride, Paradise Lost, and early Anathema pioneered this fusion, which would become known as death/doom.
It’s within this tradition that we find Structure, a relatively new name in the death/doom spectrum, hailing from the Netherlands. Their debut album, Heritage, is a weighty statement in which doom’s slow-burning despair merges organically with death metal’s sonic force. The result is a dark, immersive experience that feels entirely grounded in the legacy of the genre yet fresh in its execution.
Structure is essentially the brainchild of Bram Bijlhout, a musician who has been known since 2022 as the guitarist for the Utrecht-based black metal outfit Grafjammer. With Structure, Bijlhout steps into a different sonic realm, channelling his affinity for crushing riffs and bleak atmospheres into a sound firmly rooted in the death/doom tradition. What started as a personal project soon grew into a full-fledged collaboration featuring several prominent figures from the Dutch metal scene.
On Heritage, Bijlhout is joined by an impressive lineup of guest musicians, each bringing their own distinctive background to the table. Dirk Bruinenberg, renowned for his work with progressive metal band Elegy, as well as Adagio and Patrick Rondat, handles the drums. His technically refined playing adds texture and depth to the slow-moving compositions without ever compromising their weight.
Vocal duties are shared by two vocalists, each with a uniquely commanding presence. Pim Blankenstein, frontman of the legendary Officium Triste, contributes his signature deep growls – a voice synonymous with the Dutch death/doom legacy. His delivery brings a sombre, introspective tone that anchors the album’s emotional weight. Complementing him is Robert Soeterboek, known for his work with Ayreon, Wicked Sensation, and Highway Chile, whose rougher, heavy metal-influenced vocals add contrast and dynamism to the mix.
Heritage breathes an atmosphere of desolation and decay, yet it avoids the easy tropes of the genre. Structure consciously seeks a balance between atmospheric layering and death metal intensity. Dark melodies, slow-burning passages, and explosive vocal sections flow together into an organic whole that is at once melancholic and crushing. The band clearly understands where doom and death intersect, and how that intersection can be mined for something deeply personal.
With devastating compositions, Heritage drags the listener into a bleak and unforgiving world, devoid of comfort or mercy. Take the punishing “What We Have Lost” – a track that doesn’t merely sound like a funeral procession for a fallen world, but one that seems to drain you emotionally in the process. It’s a descent into a chasm of loss, where grief is not mourned but accepted as inevitable.
Then there’s the slow-crawling “The Sadness of Everyday Life”, which lumbers forward like a beast made of mud and sorrow, trudging through a wasteland of daily anguish. Each chord groans under its own weight. Sadness here isn’t narrated – it’s embodied, suffocating in its repetition, echoing the grind of days that blur into one another.
But the album’s crowning moment is without question the title track, “Heritage.” A true epic, it brings everything together – monolithic riffs, mournful melodies, and vocal performances that never let the listener off the hook. Here, Structure reaches a level of emotional and musical resonance that gives the entire album its lasting impact. Heritage isn’t just a closer or a thematic centrepiece – it’s the heart of the record, where the past is mourned and reimagined through sound.
With Heritage, Structure delivers a remarkably strong debut, masterfully brought to life in the final mix by JB van der Wal. Unfortunately, the album is currently only available on CD – here’s hoping a vinyl release is just over the horizon.
90/100
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