Thursday 31 July 2008

Review - Hybrid - The 8th Plague

Hybrid - The 8th Plague

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7 out of 10

An apocalyptic concept album involving insects. Super sweet by all accounts. Spanish extreme, deathly tech-metal, with added Bossa Nove, Latin and free jazz sections according to the PR blurb. The free jazz surfaces in an intro breakdown with a walking bassline ("Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder"), the others don’t really surface in any easily identifiable way.

That misunderstanding aside, you are left with some very heavy, ADHD, tech workouts. Swinging from chug to groove to blast to grind and back again, like an eyelash hooked up to a 20v battery, it certainly shows the band's technical skill. The drums are mega tight and the guitars have the requisite bottom end heaviness needed. Dissonance is thrown into the mix at intervals drawing comparisons (In my head at least!) with "Obscura" era Gorguts. Obviously this is nowhere near that DM master piece but it's not bad. Imagine Gorguts, Into The Moat and Candiria co-owning a studio, then imagine a pissed up late night dick about on the equipment, then imagine someone leaning on the record button by accident. This is more than likely what that accidental recording would sound like. Absolutely playing to its target audience, the only gripe is the vocals. As with a lot of tech music the vocals tend to be the one weak point. While there is nothing wrong here really, the monotony does get to you after a few listens.

That said " Ashes Of Babylon" is pretty sweet and slow.

Listen: www.myspace.com/hybridmetal

Tracklist:
1. Hundred Years Ocean
2. Soul Prelapse
3. Sleep Of The Defeated
4. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
5. Sun Burnt
6. Cocoon/Metamorphosis/Eclosion
7. The Omega Swarm
8. Ashes Of Babylon

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