ALBUM REVIEW: In Moment // In Memory – Our Hollow, Our Home

Releasing an album barely eighteen months after your last is one thing; to do so off the back of a personal tragedy is entirely another. With debut album Hartsick still making waves across the UK and Europe, OUR HOLLOW, OUR HOME guitarist Tobias Young lost his father to cancer just days before a three week trek across the continent. His reaction? To write In Moment // In Memory, the band’s sophomore record out tomorrow via Hollow Music.

A concept album, In Moment // In Memory takes a voyage through the five stages of grief – denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance – each represented by an introductory interlude and two fully formed tracks. Tobias himself has admitted he pushed himself harder than ever before as a writer and he’ll be pleased to hear the results are out of this world.

“Take a seat and watch my world come crashing down”, he sings on In Moment, immediately setting the scene for the breathtaking journey that unfolds over the next forty-five minutes. The lyrical content across the record is utter dynamite, from the unremitting rage that comes out of Love Loss and Wraiths to the anguish in Weight and Carriage and the eventual coming to terms of his parent’s passing in the haunting yet beautiful Parting Gift, which will resonate with anyone out there who’s not only lost a loved one but battled with mental illness. Indeed, the final section of the album, dealing with acceptance, takes a lighter note to offer hope and optimism to the listener that, for all the turmoil and rollercoaster of feelings, things will indeed get easier in time

Strong lyrics are only half the story however; the music and the delivery are just as monolithic, allowing OUR HOLLOW, OUR HOME to fully describe every message they’re conveying. The savagery in lead vocalist Connor Hallisey‘s screams are inspired, hitting every bullseye possible to provide maximum impact whilst the guitar work from both Tobias and Josh White is immaculate, combining chugging riffs and breakdowns in the likes of Disconnect and Divisions (The Exchange) with expansive, bleak tones on //Depression and, in line with the above, a bouncier and ‘happier’ tone on closing track In Memory, which ends the record on as high a note as possible given the unrelenting force that’s come before it to batter the senses and pull the heartstrings in every direction available.

This is not just ‘another metalcore album’ at all. This is a sonic masterpiece from one of the most vibrant British bands around today and it will see them scale even greater heights than they could have imagined. And you know what? They deserve every minute of it.

Rating: 9/10

In Moment // In Memory is set for release on October 19th via //Hollow Music.

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