EP REVIEW: Transgression – Hail
The fact that industrial black metal – outside of a few outliers like MYSTICUM, THORNS and ANAAL NATHRAKH – has never fully taken off as a subgenre is quite lamentable, because more often than not these two contrasting styles produce excellent musical results when mixed together. Oregon’s HAIL are one of a small number of acts that have been ploughing away in this style for years, and their ferocious mix of electronic flourishes and an abrasive, caustic brand of black metal has made them one of the most genuinely visceral and stunning acts within the US’ underground scene since their formation in 1995. The band’s latest EP, Transgression, just like each of their other records, is magnificent, and although it may be brief, it’s certainly a lot more memorable than many full-length albums are.
Face Crime cuts a doom-laden and sombre figure, implying that the music will head down a bleaker blackened doom route early on, before abruptly shifting towards a fast and feral piece of black metal characterised by razor sharp guitars, frenetic drumming and dense, abrasive vocals, with a few sludgy bass fills and spartan melodicism from the leads cutting through the near impenetrable mix. It’s a lean and focused piece of extremity that rarely slows the relentless pace, with the exception of some far thicker, groove-laden passages and touches of post-rock ambience as the song reaches its climax, going directly for the jugular rather than easing the listener in.
Transgression, with its ominous dungeon synth intro with accompanying spoken word vocals and cello, proves to be significantly harsher and more visceral, and all the better for it. Jarring chords, sudden tempo changes and all round chaotic musicianship develops a belligerent backdrop upon which the roaring, atonal vocals are laid, with soaring guitar flourishes that are peppered throughout being the only reprieve from the rabid aural assault that makes up the bulk of the music, moving away from the searing second wave style of the opener and into something far more biting and claustrophobic.
Tower Of Collapse, with its cinematic and less music-orientated feel, is more of a noise-based segue between the second and fourth tracks, with the metallic clanging and underlying dark ambience creating a minimalist, cinematic edge that, despite sounding like a very hard piece of experimental industrial music, manages to maintain the listener’s attention rather than feeling like a twist that falls flat. Edifice Of Culture accentuates and continues the sound of the previous offering, with the atmospheric undercurrent appearing much more bellicose, with thunderous percussions and arid vocals thickening out the sound and making everything feel much caustic. It doesn’t incorporate any semblance of black metal, embracing the noise rock/industrial side of this EP much more wholeheartedly, and bringing proceedings to a close on a more discordant and utterly different note to the one it began on.
This is one of those records that can be split into two halves; the first half explores the band’s brilliant and stringent take on black metal, with the final two songs expanding on the more industrial and noise parts that underpin much of what they have done previously. On the band’s most recent record, 2023’s We Are Nothing, the two styles are blended together a lot more seamlessly than they are here, but the compartmentalising of these two aspects of HAIL‘s core sound actually works here, allowing the final two tracks in particular to push the sonic landscape of this EP, and indeed this band, into newer, harsher territories. It would be great to see this more oppressive aspect to creep into the band’s future music more fully, as what is hinted at here is impressive, and if this is tied to the biting black metal of the first two songs, whatever HAIL produce next could be truly demented and heavy in its scope and aural density.
Rating: 8/10
Transgression is out now via Fiadh Productions.
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