Dear Hollow

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Hadopelagyal – Nereidean Seismic End Review

By Dear Hollow on October 3, 2022 in Reviews, Ambient Metal, Black Metal, Death Metal, 8 comments

“There’s something about tackling a fresh new band with baby-face energy hoping to make their mark. Fresh out of demos and splits, you can only hope that they’ve learned their lessons from their years of obscurity, but too many have paths of pain ahead as they struggle to find their footing. Black metal is an even more interesting style for this, as kvlt mimicry is expected, even encouraged, while a new band struggles with its two left feet. Enter Hadopelagyal, a twist on the name referring to the deepest part of the ocean.” Crush depths.

ColdWorld – Isolation Review

By Dear Hollow on September 29, 2022 in Reviews, Ambient Metal, Black Metal, 25 comments

“Isolation is ColdWorld’s coldest album. In spite of the snowy fuzz that graced 2008’s debut Melancholie² or the decaying grim tones of Autumn, Isolation lives up to its name in the bleakest way imaginable. It nearly forgoes its depressive and atmospheric black metal roots entirely for an album with utmost restraint, organicity taking precedence over rawness or intensity. Encompassing more wintry post-rock soundscapes and doom tempos, Isolation is held high by the pillars of loneliness and patience.” The sadbois of winter.

Holy Fawn – Dimensional Bleed Review

By Dear Hollow on September 20, 2022 in Reviews, Ambient Metal, Doom Metal, Shoegaze, 22 comments

“Death Spells was something special. Introducing us to the beautiful and devastating world of Holy Fawn, it showcased stunning restraint for an act with everything to prove. While undeniably built upon the foundation of My Bloody Valentine or Slowdive with saturated shoegaze drenching every movement, don’t be surprised if you’re surprised with swaths of electronica, climactic metal crunch, and a knack for heart-wrenching melody. Holy Fawn is undeniably metal, and like good metal, labyrinthine.” What is metal?

Mo’ynoq – A Place for Ash Review

By Dear Hollow on September 15, 2022 in Reviews, Black Metal, 15 comments

“Mo’ynoq is one of black metal’s most frustrating bands – a sky-high potential that never feels capitalized upon. Garnering an underground reputation with their self-released Dreaming in a Dead Language, the North Carolina quartet dealt in second-wave trademarks with an otherworldly twist about them. Balancing two vocalists, frosty tremolo and bouncy riffs, a touch of melody, and a maniac on the kit, the debut should have been a rousing success. Alas, as reflected in the gone-but-not-forgotten Lokasenna ‘s cautiously optimistic review, Mo’ynoq never really got past tripping over their own feet.” Mo’ better?

Dead Void – Volatile Forms

By Dear Hollow on September 12, 2022 in Reviews, Death Metal, Doom Metal, 11 comments

“I became acquainted with Dead Void through their quiet yet mammoth 2018 demo The Looming Spectre. I was neck deep in the melodic style of death/doom, my only experience with more ominous mutterings consisting of Thergothon or Swallowing, so these Danes’ breed of absolutely devastating death/doom hit me like a ton of slimy bricks. As dead and dripping as the walls of R’lyeh, with a megaton weight that more closely recalled funeral doom, it cranked my excitement meter to a solid 11. When Volatile Forms appeared in the promo dump, I hungrily gobbled it up.” Void if forms removed.

Hierophant – Death Siege Review

By Dear Hollow on September 3, 2022 in Reviews, Black Metal, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Noise, Sludge Metal, 10 comments

“I was first introduced to Italian noisemongers Hierophant with their 2013 sophomore effort, the provocatively titled Holy Mother: Holy Monster. An absolutely punishing release, it included all the hallmarks of acts like Oathbreaker, Celeste, and Hexis in its blackened hardcore/sludge combo. However, with a cutthroat crusty edge, it forsook all subtlety for punishing vitriol, excruciatingly dense and brutal.” Death sieges us all. Hold fast!

Hexis – Aeternum Review

By Dear Hollow on August 31, 2022 in Reviews, Black Metal, Hardcore, Post-Metal, Sludge Metal, 16 comments

“While Hexis undoubtedly draws much comparison to the blackened hardcore/sludge of Celeste, Oathbreaker, The Secret, and even Amenra, there’s a liturgical element about them. Although its lyrics draw from the well of blasphemy and trod the well-worn path of nihilism, pitch-black reverence settles like cancer in the blood.” Hex marks the sore spot.

Thoughtcrimes – Altered Pasts Review

By Dear Hollow on August 27, 2022 in Reviews, Alternative Metal, Mathcore, Metalcore, 7 comments

“Thoughtcrimes is just cool. The product of an act assembled by former The Dillinger Escape Plan drummer Billy Rymer, Altered Pasts isn’t your typical Converge-core “three minutes of incomprehensible shrieking and feedback” aesthetic. While it has its fair share of blasting rhythms and jagged tempo shifts reminiscent of mathcore’s toddler approach to keeping time, the band has infused it with dynamics. In recognizing that extreme music is just an endless din if it’s not given the room to breathe in crescendos and diminuendos of solid songwriting, Thoughtcrimes have constructed their sophomore effort carefully.” Altered math.

Ghost in the Ruins – Return to Ash Review

By Dear Hollow on August 24, 2022 in Reviews, Metalcore, 11 comments

“Ghost in the Ruins is a metalcore band from North Carolina, born from the ashes of Further the Fall, debut full-length Return to Ash making a wrecking ball to eardrums everywhere. Taking cues from the glory days of metalcore, expect galloping breakdowns, dueling melodic axe work, and vicious vocals galore.” Children of the core.

Abest – Molten Husk Review

By Dear Hollow on August 16, 2022 in Reviews, Ambient Metal, Black Metal, Hardcore, Post-Metal, 22 comments

“Molten Husk is an album built on a balance of synchrony and glitches, a duel of cohesive riffs and splattering experimentation. We embark on a journey with Abest, witnessing this dichotomy and wondering what the hell we do with its lesson. As the journey dwindles to its final moments, Molten Husk fully succumbs to the chaos. A corrosive and unforgiving beast, whose growls are abruptly interrupted by a spare moment of humanity in the haunting “Possessor,” it pummels and unnerves in a soundtrack of breathing darkness. But this is no black metal, though it makes sporadic appearances. This is not death metal, although listeners may be reminded of it. Although based in sludge, density is eschewed for a palpable crunch instead of earth-shaking weight. At the end of Molten Husk, Abest will challenge what you think about post-metal.” Abeast.