Hideous Divinity might be a name which some are not too familiar with. Hailing from the historic city of Rome in Italy, the band play a particularly savage brand of death metal with their lyrics based on concepts from movies such as Lost Highway by David Lynch proving equally as brutal. With their previous release Adveniens helping propel them onto the scene and garnering much praise from fans and media alike, all eyes are on the quintet to see what they do next.
When speaking with Guitarist Enrico Schettino recently, he mentioned that he believed that death metal was changing and that “it’s not enough to do the extreme blasts all the time, you need to do something different.” Whilst opening track “Deleuzean Centuries” doesn’t reinvent the wheel and keeps things firmly in the “death metal heavy enough to split diamonds” category, following track “The Embalmer” is where things get a little bit different. Coupled with a particularly horrific music video, the track isn’t afraid of switching things up and not relying on extreme speed all the time to get its heavy message across. The dissonant layered guitars in the choruses in particular break up the break-neck speed riffs and make it easily one of the standout tracks on the album.
That’s not to say that the formula from previous releases which we all know and love is gone. Tracks such as “Actaeon” and “The Deaden Room” keep the elements form the past but introduce new ones at the same time. The latter track in particular features a particularly insane bass solo from Stefano Fanceschini which again elevates the track to new heights. It’s this iterative that’s noticed most on “Seed of Future Horror” which blends both old and new perfectly. Layered guitar harmonies, superb vocals from “H.” and excellent drumming from Giulio Galari combine to again create one of the standout tracks on the album. Rounding out the album, “Implemini Exitio” opens in a manner unlike the rest of the album with clean guitars overladen with an almost synth like pad before a much darker version of the death metal wall appears out of the abyss. Retaining the speed in parts but also slowing down in parts to darken proceedings, the track serves as a perfect end to the album.
With this release, Hideous Divinity have changed up their sound a touch whilst still remaining true to what started them out in the first place. By bringing in some lighter elements and not being afraid to slow things down in parts, the band has created an album which still feels fresh after many repeated listens. Although, no doubt the following conversation was had between the band and the label.
“How heavy do you want this new album to be?” – Century Media
“Yes” – Hideous Divinity
Simulacrum is available now via Century Media Records
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