Hei'An Create Colorful Shades of Prog Metal on New Song 'noises'

Hei'An, a burgeoning post-progressive metal band from Slovenia, show the music world what they can do with "noises," their expressive and expansive new single. It's one of many such songs on imago, the talented group's debut album that emerged last month.

Unexpectedly contradicting its song title, "noises" starts off slow and subtle, adding layers piece by piece until it erupts in a festive crescendo with a positive message hidden deep inside.

Hear "noises" down toward the bottom of this post.

Hei'An singer-guitarist Matic Blagonič says the track is "probably our favorite song off the record — it's our most 'modern sounding' song, with a lot of synths and pads, beautiful orchestrations and catchy melodies, with some progressive elements hidden in there."

Explaining the elegant approach behind "noises," Blagonič adds, "If you're not paying attention, it comes off as rather simple. Which, in a way, it definitely is. And that's the beauty of it. It still sounds huge; though, in terms of production, the whole song is a big buildup toward a majestic resolution at the end of the song. We are really proud of this one. It's essentially about finding peace within yourself."

Hei'An's imago, released Nov. 25, is a concept album depicting a journey through a man's inner hell and the challenge of overcoming inner demons and trauma. Touching on topics such as toxic relationships, depression, loss and addiction, imago directs the listener through multiple circles of emotional torment.

The album title is a "metaphor for going through a bunch of hardships, yet in the end, spreading your wings as a beautiful butterfly, and moving forward better, stronger, more connected with yourself and more beautiful, especially on the inside," Blagonič says.

"That's why there is a butterfly on our album cover," he continues. "But as you will notice, the butterfly has slightly burnt and damaged wings — that's because when going through hardships, you can never just 'forget' or 'erase' what you've gone through, trauma will always stay with you, forever. But if you accept it, understand it (and yourself) and learn from it, you can still blossom into a beautiful butterfly, full of love and full of life."

For more Hei'An, listen to imago on streaming and check the band out on Apple Music, Facebook, Instagram, Patreon, Spotify, TikTok and at heianofficial.com.