This weeks ONE-TO-WATCH comes in the shape of Hiroe, a hard-hitting post-metal behemoth from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Hiroe will be releasing their debut album Wrought through the mighty Pelagic Records, and it’s a record that's been forged from the hardship and the drudgery that has fenced us all in over the last three years. Wrought could easily represent an enclosure of cold steel railings that have been hammered and formed with man’s very own primitive tools, incarcerating us all in our own physical and mental asylum. It's a lookback at how we have had to diversify, adapt and metamorphose into something that's alien to us.
The first track that has been released from the album is Black Mountain, and it's a force that needs to be heard, inhaled and digested. The track opens in a hazy, crisp and hypnotic guitar passage that is armoured with the same clarity and conviction of bands like If These Trees Could Talk. The melody corrugates and folds over itself like formed molten steel, all the time keeping its shape through flashing drums and percussions. As the track begins to open up, the layers begin to warp and buckle beneath that biting bass guitar, that plucks out dark sombre notes amidst swells of halcyon solos . As Black Mountain continues to surge forward, it hurtles riff after riff, amassing a tension that almost consumes and suffocates, before the tone shifts, bringing shards of hope to the forefront, and pulling you from the darkest depths with its outstretched steel beam, releasing you from the throes of despair.
Black Mountain is a reflection of a bleak point in time, a track that is sodden in dark, turbulent undertones and crushing riffs, that gorge on every ounce of hope, without empathy. Pelagic Records make very few, if any mistakes when bringing bands into the family, so this album is sure to explode. I would also suggest you keep your eyes peeled here, because I don’t think you’ve heard the last of these guys on The Smashing Skull Sessions either.