EP REVIEW: LV-426 – Hideous Divinity

Even in the midst of the ongoing pandemic, it doesn’t feel like it’s been knocking on two years since HIDEOUS DIVINITY released Simulacrum, yet the Italian powerhouse death metallers are back again. Known for their penchant for turning movies into concept albums, this time the Romans are tackling a true classic for their newest EP, LV-426 – James Cameron‘s 1986 classic Aliens. Armed with a glorious backlog of lore to explore and their most unique sonic pallet to date, does LV-426 stack up against HIDEOUS DIVNITY‘s back catalogue, or is this an EP only for the die-hards?

HIDEOUS DIVINITY may just be one of the best conceptual bands on the planet at the moment. Their ability to tie an album together using the music as just as important a storytelling device as the lyrics is truly remarkable. This is something the band have near-mastered after over a decade of song-writing, but LV-436 offers a perfect, bitesize snapshot of this talent. Over the course of the two new original songs, the quintet masterfully create an atmosphere just as bleak and frantic as the subject matter.

Acheron, Stream of Woe carries a haunted feel throughout, running parallel with the tenser scenes Aliens has to offer. The atmosphere is oppressive, the riffs somehow equal parts dissonant and catchy, and the lead work is fantastic. There’s an ethereal feel running throughout the opener while an easy sense of urgency builds, never quite coming to a head until Chestburst comes to life in a flurry of brutality. Stark contrast from the atmosphere driven opener, Chestburst uses its dissonance as a tool for mind-bending aggression. If Acheron, Stream of Woe represents the intense, edge-of-your-seat feeling the early stages of Aliens has to offer, Chestburst is the explosive finale.

It’s not just two new originals LV-426 has on offer, though. The Italians have never been strangers to the odd cover song, with classics from RIPPING CORPSE, MAYHEM and MACHINE HEAD all finding their way into HIDEOUS DIVINITY‘s repertoire. This time, the five-piece go for a slightly more surprising source – COHEED AND CAMBRIA. Reworking the prog rock madness of their debut album favourite Delirium Trigger, the Italians manage the ultimate goal for any band attempting a cover – making it their own. The proggy time signatures, abrupt changes of direction and spacey atmosphere all come together wonderfully through a blackened death metal lens, fitting wonderfully with the sonic themes of their new tracks in dissonant brutality.

The only real complaint you could reasonably voice about LV-426 is its length. With such an incredible wealth of lore and information to draw on for the Alien franchise, HIDEOUS DIVINITY could easily have written not just a full-length, but a serious of full albums – not just a two track EP. But concept aside, the Italians have never sounded so good. Moving further away from their technical death metal beginnings, the Roman quintet have fostered a melodic – if chaotic – blackened backbone matched with an eviscerating old-school death metal production. Hitting the studio with a sound this strong and releasing only two original new songs is borderline cruel – but LV-426 offers hints of something truly incredible to set come from HIDEOUS DIVINITY in the near future.

Rating: 8/10

LV-426 is out now via Century Media Records. 

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