Hailing from the great metal city of Melbourne, Hollow World are putting out their debut full length album titled “Exanimate” which is about as intense and furious as melodic death metal can get. It’s the culmination of a few short years of getting out there and proving that extreme metal can be great if done well.
The album as a whole has a very cinematic feel to it, right from the opening intro “Agartha” to epic pieces like “Reverse Transcription”. Intense is also another word that comes to mind when going through all the tracks, it’s a pretty relentless effort with not a lot of breathing space aside from the odd acoustic or melodic moment here and there. Vocally they combine harsh to deep gutteral vocals, “Defiling Paradise” is a good example of one style blending to the other which is fairly prominent on most of the tracks. Rather than focusing on one type, they combine the two to create a sickly vocal sound that is as horrifically harsh as the music itself.
Stylistically Hollow World seem to be much more than just the usual melodic death metal stuff. There’s a lot of intricate playing going on that pushes into more progressive territory, “Infect, Replace, Disintegrate” is both symphonic in it’s layering as well as super heavy while “Desolation” has both the proggy elements with a solid groove. “Patient Zero” is different again with a slight nod to Fear Factory industrialist stuff two thirds into the track before heading into more sludgey areas and “Systematic Refinement” is just a frenzied attack on the senses, pulverising in it’s intent and hooking you in with it’s meaty riffs. And just as it starts with ferocious intensity, the title track ends the album in much the same fashion.
“Exanimate” is a brutally heavy and aggressive album that will please any metal fan looking for something a bit more in your face. With some killer riffs and crazy drum patterns and a brutal vocal style to match, there’s not much to really fault here when it comes to Hollow World’s brand of extreme metal.
TRACKLIST
Agartha
Defiling Paradise
Patient Zero
Systematic Refinement
Wildfire
Infect, Replace, Disintegrate
Reverse Transcription
Pyres
Everything Rots
Desolation
Exanimate
