Friday 21 December 2018

Hollow Leg - Civlizations (Album Review)


Release date: Jan 25th 2019. Label: Argonauta Records. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Civilizations – Tracklisting

Litmus
Dirt Womb
Mountains of Stone
Black Moon
Hunter and the Hunted
Intro
Chimera
Akasha
Exodus

Members

Brent, Tim, Scott, and Tom

Review

Greetings all,

I first discovered Florida’s Hollow Leg a couple of years back with their raw and heavy second record Abysmal. The band followed in 2016 with the impressive, post-metal of Crown. So, I jumped at the chance to give a listen to their new album Civilizations and I was not disappointed. The band brings it hard and heavy with a crushing barrage of sludge and post metal. Civilizations shows the band with a cleaner, clearer production than their previous releases and the band really thrives and the record does a tremendous job of showing their talent.

To the songs; Litmus opens the record an assault of drums and feedback that leads to an inspired riff and gruff, growled vocals. The song is slow and heavy and does a stellar job setting the pace for the album. The more uptempo Dirt Womb follows and it has a more distinct metal feel and sound. A big riff and an equally as big solo drives Mountains of Stone that continues the heaviness before settling down with an acoustic outro. The band keeps the low key vibe going with the acoustic and percussion based Black Moon, which is a brief interlude that has feedback mixed with a clean electric guitar. A Neurosis like heaviness returns with the uptempo

Hunter & the Hunted. The song is big and bombastic and my favorite on the record. The mostly instrumental riffage of Intro brings the final phase of the record into focus. Chimera is a drums driven, riff heavy monster that unleashes a wicked solo and utilizes a very cool vocal distortion effect. 

A slow, doom ridden riff drives the impressive Akasha before the band changes the pace for a more metal close to the track. The album closes with the heavy, pulsating riff of Exodus which unleashes a wave of darkness throughout before taking a journey into a Sabbath inspired jazz inflected post metal breakdown. A satisfying close to a great record.

Civilizations is a mighty feather in the cap of this impressive band of musicians. There are no flaws on the record, it is heavy, concise, and focused and at this point the pinnacle for this Florida metal masters. If you haven’t done so, you need to give Hollow Leg a listen. You will not be let down, they rock mightily!

- Todd S

Instagram @alltheghoststhathauntyou

Words by Todd Stealey


Thanks to Dewar PR for the promo. Civilizations will be available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl via Argonauta Records from Jan 25th 2019.

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