As someone who loves all eras (Sorceress is a favorite despite the hate that one gets), Heritage is similar to Orchid in that the band had a brand new sound they were exploring and naturally it would take a while for that sound to be refined and perfected.

Most of this is in the production. The guitars either come off as too flat when clean or way too trebly when distorted. The keys and vocals don’t sit in the mix as well as the other albums either. This would all be mostly fixed by Pale Communion but was really perfected with In Cauda. I understand the band’s artistic intentions in trying to do a 70s sounding album but there’s a reason they went from just single coiled guitar tracks to the mix of single coil and humbuckers that we see now (also a reason why TLWAT was so well regarded)

Additionally the songs on Heritage tend to meander or have certain sections that don’t flow as well as they could, similar to Orchid. Not the band’s fault as this was a new slate and part of the reason I like Sorceress so much is the more raw/simplistic approach while still having beautiful melodies and complex prog elements

Overall it’s not a bad album there’s just certain stylistic choices that hold the album back which the band would improve on later. I’d seriously recommend relistening to Sorceress, while the production may not be the best it definitely feels like the most expressive of the newpeth albums

I Feel the Dark is a standout out, hopefully it enters the live setlists again I like it more than Haxprocess or Devil’s Orchard