Over the last few years, American black metal has had a bit of a miniature renaissance. Bands like Wolves in the Throne Room, Krallice, Sannhet, Mutilation Rites, and (trigger warning) Deafheaven have each in their own way taken the raw material of this 25+ year-old genre into novel territory. Some of these experiments have turned out more successful than others, but the more interesting point is that this subgenre of metal is having such a flowering in so many directions.
So Hideous may be the furthest off the map out of all these bands. Not for their chamber orchestrations, recurring thematic material, odd-timed signatures, or broad conceptual scope – all of that stuff is written into the DNA of metal. What makes this band stand out is how they apply all of those elements in service of an artistic message.
Which is exactly what they did on upcoming sophmore release Laurestine, a concept record about the seconds that the brain stays alive after death. The band honed in on the nitty-gritty of their guitar and orchestra parts to create a rich, full sound, which they discuss in the exclusive mini-documentary below.
Laurestine drops October 16th via Prosthetic. Pre-order it here.
