Hyde - Hyde (2020)
Made and recorded in France, with
mixing and mastering handled in Sweden, this debut album from the
band known as Hyde packs seven solid tracks of heavy desert rock.
Coming together at just over forty-five minutes, the band spreads
their wings with style and plenty of memorable hooks, and shows that
they've got the chops to keep their chosen style rolling through
songs both short and long.
Opening with “The Victim”, the band
starts on good footing as big riffs rumble on, get tightened up for
the verses, and swell again on the choruses. It brought Kyuss to
mind, but Hyde have put enough of their own spin on the vibes to keep
it respectable. “Black Phillip” follows, slowing down to more of
a doom rock mode, though the vocals hang on to their warmth. Again,
the guitar riffs are where the power stands out most, as they hit a
savory balance between hooky melodics and craggy roughness. Some
spoken/whispered touches, particularly in the subdued breakdown, help
shape the song's atmosphere further, making for a brief bout of
creepiness before surging back up into the rock.
“Tsunami” takes things in a
direction even slower and colder for its intro, and while it retains
some of that tone for its remainder, it's largely back into the heavy
desert rock. The tail end of the song lives up to its name with a
swelling crescendo, then it's on into “D W A G B”, the most
mysteriously named track of the album. Making use of an extensive
sample (you'll just have to listen to place it), the song is
otherwise instrumental, and it's one of the harder-kicking rides Hyde
offer so far.
It also marks the halfway point, as the
last three songs (“Hunter's Run”, “The Barber Of Pitlochry”,
and a self-titled track) add up to twenty-three minutes of the total
play-time. Fittingly, it's here where the mood and feel of the songs
grow to their biggest proportions. Add to that the compelling flow
within the tracks and between them, and there's not much choice but
to just go with the ride through the back half and enjoy the massive
grooves. Of course, “Hyde”, at eleven minutes and change in the
closing position, is the one which dominates, and which shows the
band working the most structural changes into their song-writing.
All in all, a solid debut, and one which should have desert rock fans
keeping an ear out for more to come from Dr. Jekyll's dark side.
~ Gabriel
For Fans Of; Forming the
Void, Kyuss, Sonora Ritual, Snake Thursday, Tuber
~
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