ALBUM REVIEW: Erosion / Avulsion – Hidden Mothers
It’s been a long road to HIDDEN MOTHERS releasing their debut album. The group’s last release, a self-titled EP in 2020, showed their potential, fusing post-hardcore aggression with screamo and black metal elements. The journey since has been winding, with momentum cut by the pandemic at first, and later rebuilt through notable festival appearances and tour support slots. The wait, however, is well-earned: Erosion / Avulsion significantly evolves upon what has come before.
What’s so exciting about this iteration of HIDDEN MOTHERS is the desire to experiment, to fuse a vast range of styles into the sonic palette beyond the post-black metal base. The band has previously stated their early goal was to play ArcTanGent Festival (a feat they have now achieved twice). The eclectic range of genres that festival packs in have been studied and adopted into the HIDDEN MOTHERS package.
Opener Defanged reprises the post-hardcore of the earlier release from its first moments. An explosion of relentless kicks and the visceral roar of Liam Knowles is packed with aggression, enough to knock you back in your seat. Halfway through, the feel changes; guitarist Luke Scrivens takes the microphone, infusing the song with melody and vulnerability. It concludes with a vast post-metal instrumental. That melting pot of genres sets the template for the album, a band not simply content to take and refine one style.
Whilst the contributions from all of the band are noteworthy and full of talent, Luke Scrivens‘ vocal efforts elevate this to something special. His gravelly voice sometimes serves as a counterpoint to the vociferous screams of bassist Knowles. Andy Calderbank from PLEIADES also joins on Death Curl in a delightful call-and-response with Scrivens, that track concluding with a tender post-rock build into thunderous sludge. But his solo contributions shine the brightest – cracked and injected with pathos on the likes of Still Sickness. The band use vocal contrasts to maximal effect; the transition from a reservoir of calm from Scrivens into Knowles‘ scream, atop a thunderous blastbeat, echoes the likes of DEAFHEAVEN.
Most of the songs are lengthy, containing several movements and often tempo changes to show off the band’s range. There are a couple of curveball exceptions to this. Caton Green is a small slice of glacial post-rock beauty, a short instrumental acting as a much-needed breather after the first few tracks. Later, Grandfather displays an entirely different side to the band. It’s a slow, sparse minor ballad fronted by Scrivens, a cry against inequality calling back to previous generations. Accompanied only by a droning bass and an Americana twang to the jangly minor key guitars, it is both unexpected and haunting.
Erosion / Avulsion succeeds in that embrace of the unexpected through its execution. The Grey‘s opening minutes evoke sinister progressive menace, enabled through clever chord changes and layered guitars. Its sparse outro is Knowles‘ centrepiece moment, his distant shouts ripping through the mix. Violet Sun opens with some entertaining riffage before landing on the album’s best melody, a descending motif sung by Scrivens reprised throughout the track. The closer Haze could be confused at first with singer-songwriter pop; such is the delicate nature of the guitars and vocal melody, the gravel cleaned up in the falsetto range. Ultimately, it smash-cuts to the band at pace before closing out on the slowest of sludge riffs.
Those moments where the musical style finds an element of brilliance in melody, riff, or aggression truly stand out. It will be interesting to see where the band can take this creativity next. A slightly tighter directional focus combined with more consistency of those moments would yield something incredible. For now, Erosion / Avulsion‘s late appearance in the calendar year will surely cause a few Album of the Year lists to be re-written. HIDDEN MOTHERS have more than delivered on their early promise, and shown their ability not just to absorb musical ideas, but to execute them in their inimitable style.
Rating: 9/10
Erosion / Avulsion is out now via Church Road Records.
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