Hybris - Heavy Machinery
This is progressive thrash metal from the UK featuring seasoned musicians from bands like Abgott, Stuka Squadron, Iron Knights and Centurions Ghost. I remember witnessing their debut gig and was really impressed by one of their demo tracks ‘Foe or Friend’. In the recent thrash revival, progressive elements were hardly ever touched, but with such song writing and guitar playing talents clearly evident as is on this debut album, I am somewhat pleased some lesser bands didn’t attempt this and screw it up, Hybris really set the standard high. There are a few headbanging grooves that foliate around this release, the band decide to make the music more interesting and change the tempo, feel or momentum somewhat more often than not which is appealing as it drives you to wonder where the band will take you next with their musical vision.
That aforementioned ‘Foe or Friend’ would really appeal to fans of Annihilator, even dipping into some death metal circles similar to what Atheist used to play and by these references I refer to the guitar work which utilises some amazing scales and riffs. There is fighting talk in the groove, the album is punchy and doesn’t rest from start to end. Vocalist James really suits this style of music, kind of like Forbidden’s Russ Anderson for style and substance and this really generates an immense level of interest for me. ‘Hypertube’ gives the first real impression of consistency and it is something that I can report is very much present throughout this entire release; ‘Volcano’ is also a notable track. I was actually disappointed when the album first finished as I felt I wanted more, thus, this album is marked for repeat playing over and over again, it’s a true “hubris” as it ensures you lose touch with reality by the nature of the song arrangements and gives you a real reverence for the technical side of thrash.
This is a really exciting release; it is an album that is laden with excellent technicality, it has a very strong atmosphere and actually has a really cool album cover! Perhaps this is the next band from the UK that will breakthrough, I certainly think there is the quality to match this possible action. So if you want a tight thrash album that has progressive elements and covers most bases, then it simple, you need ‘Heavy Machinery’.
That aforementioned ‘Foe or Friend’ would really appeal to fans of Annihilator, even dipping into some death metal circles similar to what Atheist used to play and by these references I refer to the guitar work which utilises some amazing scales and riffs. There is fighting talk in the groove, the album is punchy and doesn’t rest from start to end. Vocalist James really suits this style of music, kind of like Forbidden’s Russ Anderson for style and substance and this really generates an immense level of interest for me. ‘Hypertube’ gives the first real impression of consistency and it is something that I can report is very much present throughout this entire release; ‘Volcano’ is also a notable track. I was actually disappointed when the album first finished as I felt I wanted more, thus, this album is marked for repeat playing over and over again, it’s a true “hubris” as it ensures you lose touch with reality by the nature of the song arrangements and gives you a real reverence for the technical side of thrash.
This is a really exciting release; it is an album that is laden with excellent technicality, it has a very strong atmosphere and actually has a really cool album cover! Perhaps this is the next band from the UK that will breakthrough, I certainly think there is the quality to match this possible action. So if you want a tight thrash album that has progressive elements and covers most bases, then it simple, you need ‘Heavy Machinery’.
- Uprising
- Hypertube
- Shadowplay
- Foe Or Friend
- Collision
- Insidious
- Emperors
- Volcano
- Hubris
- Cult Of Doom
