Hollow Earth
Dead Planet
(Good Fight Music)
Detroit’s Hollow Earth have seemingly been a buzzed-about band for the past few years, and while their previous output was perfectly fine, Dead Planet is here to show that the hype was more than worth it. The group’s sludge-ified take on 90s metallic hardcore was impressive, and two members’ past time in Shai Hulud proved they had the talent to watch out for. The old tunes felt too much like Neurosis filtered through a modern interpretation of 90s metallic hardcore (see a lot of other great bands on Good Fight), but the two styles didn’t really mix all that well on record. With their sophomore album, Hollow Earth do a much better job at mixing their thrash and stoner influences, but they also allow the two distinct styles to be separated.
For example, take the four song barrage beginning with “The Harbinger of Existence”, which starts things with a near-perfect ratio of just fucking furious riffage and heady atmosphere. The tune morphs from malice to menacing without missing a beat (though the beat is obviously slowed down). The acoustic pre-breakdown is especially haunting, and it highlights how easily Hollow Earth melds monolithic doom and raging metalcore (at least when they want to). “Setting Teeth” and “From Empyrean to Damnation” play off each other, with the first hinting at a greater death metal influence and the latter wields riffs like Ash Williams and his boomstick. Both are easy choices for album highlights, as a spacey atmosphere is counterbalanced with meaty, earth-toned riffs. These two tunes showcase Hollow Earth out for blood. Yet, the meat in between these death-tinged tracks is “Revolutions in Refracted Light”, the lightest song on the record. It recalls Deftones at their most air-y, with some welcome clean vocals leading into some earth-shattering sludge.
All these interesting sonic choices lead to a truly captivating, engaging listen. The production from Misery Signals’ Greg Thomas and Bill Henderson captures everything with a modern sheen while leaving just enough grit in the guitars and vocals. One minor quibble is vocalist Steve Muczynski, whose throwback throat-y hardcore rasp feels a bit one note; it’s more than enough to carry the weighty sci-fi held within Dead Planet, though the three great guest spots feel necessary to add more vocal texture. Also, and it’s a real minor issue, but for an album full of space rock, crushing doom, 90s death metal, and bruising hardcore, “To an Earth Abandoned” feels like a slight letdown as a closing statement. Everything leading up to it is so grand, so powerful, that the final impact is less than it should be. However, that’s just a minor ticky-tacky issue with a stunning achievement. Hollow Earth have created a fascinating new take on post-metalcore, one where riffs and atmosphere can coexist somewhere in space.
