Lots to wrestle and grapple with on this one…Hacride, as described by their bio as a mix of Gojira, Meshuggah, and Neurosis (nice one) have found themselves in that transient cyber-metal void that not many are piling into, surprisingly. Good ideas abound, though, and Hacride resist the temptation to beat us over the head with staccato riffing or lazy atmospheres. In fact,Lazarus is more than dynamic than the new Gojira. Really.
A lively, devoid of modern production details production job makes Lazarus more emotive than one would initially think, just take a stab at opener “To Walk Among Them” which crams some nifty grooves and sideways melodies into a 10-minute plus jam. “Act of God” is where the Meshuggah angle comes in, with the band employing some rather deft and punchy riffing.
Tech-wise, the band is pretty stout, just reference the title track (which is a colossal, by the way) and “Awakening.” Riffs remain are the fore throughout, with Hacride never straying too far from the industrious cyber metal void they’re filling and that’s probably why this album sticks – it’s the “blender” effect down to a science, almost.
We’ll see how much these lads are placed up next to Gojira. The similarities are there (both bands are French and call Listenable home, amongst others), but where Gojira is more content to let one or two ideas per songs do the talking
, Hacride has a boat load of ‘em, and more often than not, they’re of distinct quality.
In all, very much recommended. Unique? Kind of, but not really, but you can’t take away from the immense depth and span of the seven songs here. Throttling.
(This content originally appeared on Blistering.com)