Belgium is churning out some serious metal bands at the moment, and those already from the lowlands of Western Europe certainly are making waves. Next up from there are Hedonist, a three piece thrash sounding, sludgy groove laden stoner rock trio. With a name which describes someone who strives to maximise pleasure in life, let us see how these three guys are going about their mission.
Opening up with “The Urge”, Hedonist hit hard. Full on distortion, pounding riffs, booming bass and relentless drums, it is a full on groove metal assault designed to be played at full volume. Vocally, it has some qualities of Phil Anselmo about it with the dirt and rawness of his gravelled shouts and the same could be said for the music behind being kind of like Pantera, especially in the Trendkill era. With venom and thunder in the delivery, the straight forward steady paced riff assault works well as a taste of things to come for the album. Title track “The Collapse” retains the intense groove and heavy feel, but with its intricate drum and bass led intro, it has a real building feel to it which grows as the track progresses, raising the volume and the heaviness. Whilst simple in structure and approach, the drumming is anything but. Intricate and hypnotic, it draws you into the powerful headbanging groove and keeps you locked in place, but whilst this works wonders, the distinct lack of a recognisable lead section seems to go against the overall building feel of the track. This isn’t necessarily a negative all the time, but the way it has built up just screams for a real harsh, blues tainted sequence of licks which scream out, but sadly there is none of that.
“Body Like A Battle Axe” keeps up the thick distorted sound which seems to be a trademark of Hedonist and underneath it, the rumbling bass and complex drums begin to surge to life before it kicks into a melodic and powerful groove. Fairly straight forwards, it follows a similar thought process to the previous tracks – hit hard, be loud and give gratuitous groove for headbanging. The follow up though, “I Hedonist” is an entirely different beast altogether. A thick bass line brings in a tremendous melodic groove with a great hook to it, instantly catching you on it, and as it picks up, the hook just sinks in deeper and will have you headbanging along without even being aware. Slower paced in the verses with a less raw vocal approach, it picks up in power as it heads towards the chorus and that memorable bouncing riff section. Again, it firmly stays in the groove and riff territory, but with more a spark this time but the noticeable absence of some kind of lead section, even if minuscule is something of note. Sure the riffs and vocals and the groove do enough, but that extra spark is needed.
From here, it’s fairly same old as far as the rest of the album is concerned. “Knives And Lint” for the majority is an atmospheric riff fest with some franticness towards the tail end whilst “Black Lung” adds more harshness to the delivery whilst keeping a real thick and powerful groove going. “Beecher” slows it down with a more sinister sound, still retaining the fantastic drumming which has been a constant of this album and it signals a departure from the usual approach with a moodier blues inspired number. Smoothly delivered vocals in the verse with some real warm and deep bass line work and some small bluesy licks which add some flavour to the sound, it’s a welcome change and showcases another side of the band proving that they don’t just deal in groove metal. Even when the dirt gets thrown on, giving it a more monstrous sound and atmosphere, it still retains that dirty southern blues feel but brings a lot more groove with it. Even the psych-styled bass and guitar section sounds great and overall, this is the type of track the album was crying out for as we get our first real solid slice of lead-work. It was worth the wait, but could have come a little sooner in my opinion!
“Back To Arkham” is a fast paced number, somewhat blurring the lines between groove and old school punk in terms of the energetic feel of the delivery and the rawness of the sound. Rapid paced guitars, catchy drums and muddy vocals give this an intense and urgent feel and this intensity and urgency continues into the penultimate track “The Number Eight Will Kill You”. Explosive drums, frantic delivery and raw vocals, it has an air of Metallica about it, especially in the vocal delivery. Hard and loose, it rips through with real energy and intense drumming which is only complimented by the ferocious guitar tone, giving a real kick of life to the album right for the closing track. “His Soul Still Dancing” slows it down a touch, bringing back that melodic hook laden groove riff approach which surfaced earlier on in the album, but with a more harsh bite to the sound and tone. Heavy, intense and rhythmically solid, it’s a solid ending to a real groove laden album, but despite the strong end, the album doesn’t quite stand out as much as I thought it would have.
“The Collapse” is a tale of two sides, on the plus side, the groove and drums are phenomenal, a real solid support which seems like it could bear the weight of expectation and then some, but as steady as this core foundation is, what it holds up sadly isn’t up to scratch. Sure the vocals are raw and dirty, the guitars bite and the bass is deep and rumbling… But it lacks that spark to make it stand out as something significant, thus giving it that classic opens well, goes to hell then pulls it back feel. In all, it makes for alright background music, but not much else.
(5.5/10 Fraggle)
Leave a Reply