There are not to many prejudices I hold when it comes to music. But usually when I pick up an album by a European band, I assume by default that there's going to be something or the other about the record that would specifically prick my ears. This serves as both a disappointment and a reward. Hacride had grabbed my attention with the music video for “Perturbed”, the first single off their album “Amoeba”, to the extent that I took it upon me to get well-rehearsed with their entire body-of-work, but more on that later. Gradually when “Back to Where You Have Never Been” was announced I made it a point to make sure I do not miss out on this one.
Hacride are Adrien Grousset on Guitars, Benoist Danneville on Bass and the latest addition to their ranks, Florent Mercadet on Drums and vocalist Luiss Roux. “Back to Where You Have Never Been” boasts of 10 tracks and is their first work in 4 years, and the 5th full length. Production duties have been handled by Frank Hueso, who took care of the same for Hacride’s back catalogue, and Marc Casanova.
The album opens with the track “Introversion”. Not quite the album-opener one would expect given their previous albums, but nevertheless a nice touch. Luiss Roux demonstrates not only a wider vocal range than former vocalist Samuel Bourreau, he intersperses it with equally piercing growls as well. The second track features a hard hitting verse riff that is complemented by new drummer Florent Mercadet’s relentless skin-slamming. The compositional maturity is reflected in Luiss Roux’s work with the chorus. “Synesthesia” is an instrumental. While nothing out of the ordinary, it cannot be checked off as filler material either since it showcases the more accessible elements of Hacride’s sound, the newer influences over the older Technical/Progressive Death ones.
“Overcome”, the 4th track, a personal favourite off the album, is another track that highlights what Luiss Roux brings to the table; sample the clean/spoken section at the bridge section for this. Lyrically the band has maintained their ground, mainly discussing self-introspection and other such relative themes. “Edification of the Fall” is another stand-out track from the album. Featuring what seemed like minimal Industrial elements and an equally intriguing bridge section, this track summarizes the present Hacride sound best.
“Back to Where You Have Been” definitely witnesses the coming of age of a band that had been toiling away in relative obscurity. Hacride have both harnessed the means to play to their strengths and achieve what they can within it. With the 4th full length “Lazarus” comprising of the 15-minute long juggernaut, it became quite obvious that this band was capable of churning out intuitive compositions; the remarkability could not be judged by just one category such as technical prowess or brutality. When a band like Hacride is placed under the microscope they offer up a lot of different criteria to judge by. And they just proved their capability by somewhat taking a detour from the well-traversed musical path they had been following up until “Lazarus”. One would not go so far as to call this their magnum opus, because undoubtedly it is too early in their career, but “Back to Where You Have Never Been” is a milestone nevertheless and is probably responsible for putting the band on the map, a tad bit more than the previous records had.
In a country where a band of Gojira’s stature sets the bar for everything that remotely aspires to be heavy music (not to mention other stalwarts such as Gorod, Dagoba and newcomers Atlantis Chronicles), Hacride deserve way more credit than they are already given. And that statement has nothing to do with the fact that they have been around for more than a decade now. Also, having witnessed their 4-way menacing stage presence at the Calcutta leg of the “Back to Where You Have Never Been India tour”, it would be safe to say that the alteration in half of their former line-up which most of their old fans have gotten accustomed to, has not affected their musicianship at all. Hacride are back in the thick of action, with a rehashed avatar, more avant-garde if not progressive or even technical. This is raw, solid French groove at its best.
Cologne's Euroblast Festival doesn't need an introduction for many of you, so I'll put it this way... One of Europe's most mind-blowing metal festivals will unleash all of its energy on the crowd from the 11th til the 13th of October. It seems like this forthcoming ninth edition is going to be another blast!
In fact, the guys at the Euroblast Collective have announced a good portion of this year's line up and two of the headliners. Textures will be performing their only German show of 2013 here. The second headliner is Germany's very own The Ocean. The rest of the unveiled line up is stacked as well, making this an unmissable event. Euroblast 2013 will feature international names like Threat Signal, The Agonist, Twelve Foot Ninja, Arsis, Hacride, Benea Reach, Mnemic, Feared, Xerath, Lifeforms, Aliases, Humanity's Last Breath, Syqem, The Omega Experiment, Deathember, Der Weg Einer Freheit, Dawn Heist, Hord, Overdown, Pomegranate Tiger, Tardive Dyskinesia, Cyclamen, Kartikeya, Heights, and Third Ear.
Last year's line up featured more than 40 bands. This year is currently at 28. So the only thing you need to do is stay tuned for the announcement of the third headliner / rest of the line up, coming very soon. If you live in Europe, you should definitely start thinking about buying tickets. This is the kind of event you don't want to miss!
In the past few years France's metal fan base has been rapidly expanding,
outlining a very interesting heavy music community and giving birth to some truly
amazing bands. The 3 biggest names are currently Eths (who added a
progressive twist to their groove metal sound in their latest album "III"), the progressive death metal masters Hacride (who are
going to release a new album "Back To Where You've Never Been" in 2013)
and especially Gojira, who are currently the band which every French
metalhead should be proud of. Their 2012 album "L'Enfant
Sauvage" was acclaimed as 2012's album of the year by a large portion of
the specialized press.
A lot of incredible music recently emerged from the underground: I'm
sure a lot of you have been blown away by the greatness of Uneven
Structure music. Their uplifting music and atmospheres are some of the
best things to come out of the djent / thall scene so far. Uneven Structure's 2011 album
"Februus" is something you absolutely MUST give a listen to, if you haven't yet. It was actually named our 2011 album of the year. We
also strongly recommend you to give a listen to WorC, the solo project
of Uneven Structures guitarist Aurélien Perreira and Eggeh, the project of other guirarist Igor Omodei if you're looking for
some similar amazing material. THALL.
In the wake of Gojira's dark sounds, we can find 3 amazing bands who create impressive music covered by gloomy atmospheres... and they all released
an album in 2012. The first one, Blut Aus Nord, is by now a black metal
legend. Formed in 1994 as a solo project by Vindsval (currently
vocalist and guitarist), this avant-garde black metal band released
their 10th studio album in 2012, "777 - Cosmophony" the third episode of their "777" trilogy. It was anticipated by two more releases in 2011, "Sect(s)"
and "The Desantification". Give a listen below to one of the tracks out
of their last album.
Eryn Non Dae. is another french band meeting with success right
now, especially in Europe thanks to their 2012 album "Meliora". They
deliver downtempo sounds using huge and heavy guitars immersed into an
obscure atmosphere. Their latest album, the third of their career, was
largely appreciated by the critics too. They've also became popular as a
live band playing a lot of shows in France and all around Europe, also in support of
Hacride. This summer they'll also be playing at
Hellfest in France and UK Tech-Fest.
And if you're searching for some experimental and psychedelic metal,
you're in the right place! Hypno5e is a progressive metal band bringing dark progressive metal especially built on ambiance. Amazing soundscapes
and 10 minute-long musical experiences make this band a must listen.
They have toured throughout France and the United States with other
bands such as Gojira, The Ocean Collective, Watcha, Black Bomb Ä and
Eths. Since their birth in 2003, they've released a demo, an EP and two
albums. The first one, "Des Deux L'une Est L'autre", was released in 2007,
but they reached the summit of their musical research in 2012 with the
mind-blowing album "Acid Mist Tomorrow". A videoclip for the single
"Story Of The Eye" was uploaded on Got-Djent's YouTube channel and you
better give it a listen right now.
Another band who definitely deserves a mention is Atlantis Chronicles.
This forthcoming five-piece band is the most promising thing to come out
of Paris underground metal scene. They just released their debut album
"Ten Miles Underwater" through Coroner Records in March. An amazing
concept album wich showed everyone the amazing skills and talent of this
great musicians. A powerfull mix of death, progressive and hardcore
wich might really takes "Ten Miles Underwater" to become one of the best
debut albums of the year. Check em out!
There's really a lot of incredible stuff coming out of France, and it
all deserves to be promoted properly. Therefore Exploring The World is
coming back to France soon to discover a lot more amazing French metal.
Stay tuned \m/
