Release Date: December 06th 2024. Record Label: Self Released. Formats: DD
Echoes - Track Listing:
1. Last Tribe (5:11)
2. Bury Our Kings (4:43)
3. Red Skies (3:28)
4. Ride the Wave/Dig the Grave (6:33)
Members
Scott Angelacos - vocals
Brent Lynch - guitar/backing vocals
Tom Crowther - bass
John Stewart - drums
Review
American Doom/Stoner Metallers Hollow Leg releases their second EP of 2024 with Echoes which acts as the perfect companion piece to Dust which was released back in May. This EP is a heavier and gloomier piece compared to Dust but both acting as different sides of the same coin. The music is perhaps more groove orientated which comes across superbly well within the stunning opening track Last Tribe. With a storming NOLA and Southern Metal style of music appearing yet again, the sound is quite thick and dominated by a thrilling vocal performance from lead vocalist Scott Angelacos.
Echoes runs around twenty minutes and maybe DUST and ECHOES should have been released as one full album but Hollow Leg have earned the right to carry out something different with their music and having two EP’s showcases the new creative direction the band are continuing with. The sound is quite bleak and oppressive in parts but it’s still classic sounding HOLLOW LEG through and through. The added use of Psychedelic pastures is used superbly yet again with a classic style of Doom/Stoner Metal being quite forceful and riff-centric in nature which is carried out through the rest of the EP especially on sublime tracks of Bury Our Kings and Red Skies.
The instrumental passages are quite grounded in Sludge Metal lore and technical ability but there’s also a great style of classic sounding Heavy Rock that we haven’t heard from Hollow Leg in quite some time. With some heavy guitar solos sweetening the deal within Bury Our Kings which can be quite flashy at times but this proves why Hollow Leg are perhaps undisputed masters of the American Doom/Stoner Metal scene currently out there. As they know how to write a lean, mean and bone-crunching groove that ventures across the whole Heavy Rock spectrum.
The final track of Ride The Wave/Dig The Grave is the standout track with Hollow Leg demonstrating a wicked sense of classic Grunge methodology that harks back to the good old days of Soundgarden and Alice In Chains but keeping inline with the backdrop of modern day Doom/Sludge Metal. The vocals once again are harsh, abrasive and pitched superbly well that makes them easy to understand. The track sees Hollow Leg perform their heaviest and sickest grooves on the EP which is also brilliantly original in its own right.
There's also a brilliant section where Hollow Leg start playing moments of Post-Rock, Post-Doom and Post-Stoner on the later stages of the track and I do hope we hear this style of music from the band on future releases as it really suits them compared to the heavier sounds they're fully known for.
Echoes is an absolute BEAST of an EP which ranks as one of the band's most definitive records in years.
Words by Steve Howe
Thanks to Good Boy PR for the promo. Echoes will be available to buy digitally from Friday 06th December 2024.
