Hideous Divinity – LV-426 (Century Media)
Wednesday, 21st April 2021
With a number of high quality death metal releases in their back pocket at this point, Hideous Divinity is well-established as an act that can merge furious death metal speed with technical songwriting chops that don’t overdo it. The band knows exactly how to make their sound absolutely seethe with aggression, yet make it memorable enough that you want to return to it frequently. LV-426 may only be three songs, but you’ll feel pleasantly satisfied as you wait for the band’s next full-length.
With a concept using the Aliens franchise and wisely focusing on Newt and her story as opposed to yet another xenomorph horror-fest, the groundwork is laid for the band to step outside the box a bit. The isolation theme is a strong one in which the whole world can currently relate to, it’s given a timely boost with its release too. The band’s aforementioned style is written all over the two new tracks, but the atmosphere has seemingly taken a bit of a step up, and you can certainly feel the moments of dread and terror amid the scorching high-tempo riffs and tech-fireworks that are the bread & butter of the band’s assault. It makes for something that feels more cinematic and thrilling, as the urgency tends to increase, particularly through the battery of “Chestburst.” We are also given a third track, a cover of Coheed and Cambria’s “Delirium Trigger.” An impressive cover that gives the track a full death metal workover while still being able to identify it as the original song. Again, the atmosphere here matches the other two songs, if not moreso, and makes it a real showstopper.
LV-426 may be short, but it packs a thrilling wallop. Those hip to Hideous Divinity already will be easily sold by the band’s vision of the Aliens tale and the way it’s worked into a more intriguing death metal framework. Hideous Divinity continues to impress with their knowledge of how best to spin the extreme metal machine and get fascinating results, proving themselves one of the genre’s more interesting acts.
