ALBUM REVIEW: Bloom & Expire – Lower Hollow

LOWER HOLLOW are a five-piece hardcore band reigning from South Africa and Bloom & Expire is a collection of broken shards – remnants of pain and ideals long forgotten. It’s a record spent facing all these problems and situations – however uncomfortable they may be – and making light of these scenarios, pushing back and letting out all the grief and sadness that has come with keeping it locked inside, to wither away, except now they’re unleashing it so they can bloom and become the better versions of themselves they so desperately seek.

Now imagine the feeling of despair like a leaf floating in the wind, completely void of emotion. That is how Desolate opens this record before launching into Vacant Hell; a polar opposite. It’s a song full of anger and hurt as vocalist Estian Smith screams into the ether, “Sink your teeth into my skin / Take everything you need” with a stunning collection of ambient and emotive guitar sounds and striking drums that add that necessary attack.

Perhaps the most touching sentiment this album has to offer is Eyes Wide Shut; a poetic ballad that features the words of Alan Watts. Starting off as this heart pounding anthem that soon turns into this beautiful painting of melodic leads, and this undying love that never fades falling into a touching piano piece, full of heart and vulnerability. It captures the sound of this effortless feeling, of stargazing in the quiet hours and pondering this idea of love, both the rise and fall.

Noose With A Name returns to formula with spontaneous drums and fast-paced guitars that add a thrashiness to it with skull crushing vocals. It’s a full throttle track that gets you in full swing; a moment away from throwing fists or, alternatively, doing the macarena, and this momentum continues with Living Ghosts which adds a nice touch of dissonance with its spicy riffs, although the twangy guitar part that appears after a few moments of dead silence appears to be both jarring and unnecessary in nature. 

Age Of Apathy starts off as an ode to the mid-00s era of  BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE and TRIVIUM; it has a nostalgic quality to it for a few moments whilst remaining creative enough to add a modern twist in the mix of sounds. However, it appears the band’s secret weapon is the emotionally charged ballad because Waves Of Tragedy is another victory to hang on the wall; it has a midwest emo feel to it with the spoken word aspect accompanied by the slow, ambient drift of the guitar that adds desired textures in simplistic leads that build this beautiful soundscape – a lost in the ocean type of sound if we had to describe it.

Unfortunately we arrive at our final destination with I Am Empty and Bloom & Expire, both of which engage in agonising vocals that go from holding aggression to grief in their pain; beautiful and yearning yet lost in their anger. The guitars change tempo multiple times throughout both tracks but they work alongside the nature of the vocals, with the thick, crisp cut of the bass and energetic flow of the drums. There are times however where Bloom & Expire dips its toes into black metal territory and it’s beautiful to see the band experiment with sounds, however big or small they may be.

All in all, LOWER HOLLOW set out to dig through past experiences and unveil the experiences they’ve dealt with over the years: it’s as heartfelt and emotional as it is rageful and intense and if that’s a testament to their troublesome time we hope this was the cathartic release they needed.

Rating: 9/10

Bloom & Expire is out now via Mongrel Records.

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