Hideous Divinity: They Mostly Come At Night… Mostly

There are some bits of pop culture that are just really god damn metal; movies, books and TV series that just seem to fully embody the darkness and brutality that this most heavy of genres is built on. And like an ecosystem of bad-ass media, these decidedly dark movies, series and books influence and inspire, leading to lyrics further developing the stories they take influence from. And there’s no band that embodies the microcosm of pop culture quite like Italian death metallers HIDEOUS DIVINITY. For the better part of the last decade, the Italians bruisers have been crafting top-tier concept albums, delving into the lore of some of their favourite films and retelling the stories in their own fashion. From debut album Obeisance Rising tackling John Carpenter‘s They Live to their most recent full-length Simulacrum which takes on David Lynch’s Lost Highway, HIDEOUS DIVINITY have explored numerous movies, often with a philosophical slant. Their newest EP, LV-426, takes a different route, however, diving into cult classic James Cameron’s Aliens.

“I wouldn’t say Aliens is an underestimated or overlooked movie – when you think of the Alien franchise you think of the first one and Aliens. But Aliens has such a complex narrative, and Enrico [Schettino, guitars] for once wanted to steer a little bit further away from the philosophical and cryptic movie concepts. With Simulacrum we tried to merge philosophical ideas with the story of David Lynch’s movie Lost Highway – this time we wanted to be a little more straightforward with the concept, we wanted to be a little more in-your-face. And we’re huge Alien fans as well!” Comments bassist Stefano Franceschini with a laugh on the slight change of direction for the concept of LV-426. 

“I think it also combines well with our musical message which got a little more atmospheric. We wanted to really focus on the sub-narrative of Newt; as a character, she perfectly symbolically embodies the shattering of our dreams, and in a more narrow way, the destruction of childhood innocence.” 

For those unfamiliar with the story of Aliens, or more broadly the Alien franchise – first of all, sort yourself out and rectify that immediately with a movie marathon – here is a brief rundown. The first film in the franchise follows the crew of space freighter Nostromo – with Sigourney Weaver taking centre-stage as Ellen Ripley – as they discover and are subsequently tormented by an alien, the now famous Xenomorph. Aliens, the sequel and the focus on HIDEOUS DIVINITY’s newest outing, once again follows Ripley as she re-establishes contact with a lost colony on a planet codenamed LV-426. The film follows Ripley and the squad of marines she is embedded with as they attempt to rescue the sole survivor, a young girl called Newt who’s entire family were killed by the horde of Xenomorphs that attack the colony nightly, and escape LV-426 with their lives. 

It’s really a franchise almost tailor-made for extreme metal lyricism. So are we going to see HIDEOUS DIVINITY continue down this path, delve deeper into the lore surrounding the Xenomorph? “That’s an interesting question. We haven’t really thought that far ahead yet, but I have a feeling that for the next record we’re going to do something different but honestly, I don’t know – I’m personally really curious as to what Enrico is going to come up with next as he is the conceptual mastermind behind HIDEOUS DIVINITY as well as the main composer. Let’s see what the future holds,” Franceschini comments, before reflecting on just how many angles would be open to the band if they did decide to go deeper into the Alien franchise. 

“We could talk and write about the Alien franchise for a lifetime – there’s so much there! The whole argument of what’s canon is interesting as well, with the novels and the comics and the graphic novels, you could probably write a thesis on it! There’s definitely a lot to talk about with Alien.”

The shattering of the childhood innocence of Newt and the unending hunt of the horde of Xenomorphs didn’t just stand as the main lyrical basis for LV-426, though. The concept played a profound effect on the composition of the EP as well, showcasing a new and incredibly exciting evolution for HIDEOUS DIVINITY. Amid the technicality and the blackened death metal brutality, heaps of dissonance and atmospherics have burrowed into the Italian’s musical arsenal, the music of LV-426 taking as much influence from the Aliens soundtrack as the lyrics do from the plot. 

“That’s actually a very thorough and pertinent observation. Enrico has also been experimenting with scoring and soundtracks, trying to take the whole musical direction toward the cinematic. Not necessarily in an orchestral way, that’s not exactly what we want to do – it’s more about atmosphere and trying to add this new dimension and feeling to the music.” Franceschini muses, before hinting that this new musical direction is here to stay.

“To really quickly trace a musical history of HIDEOUS DIVINITY, Obeisance Rising is just straight up aggressive, like let’s try to play as noisy and as fast as possible, while with Cobra Verde we tried a little more of a technical death metal approach. On Adveniens and Simulacrum we kind of reached the blackened death metal peak and we wanted to give our music a little more breath and space, with all of the black metal inflections and atmosphere. We all thought that LV-426 would be the perfect opportunity to experiment a little bit more towards that direction. I would absolutely love to go that way and maybe try to explore this kind of musical realm in a little more in depth. Our fans can expect something even darker, even more obscure with the next record. We’re definitely going to venture a little bit more into the realm of darkness and dissonance.” 

It may only be a three-track EP, but LV-426 represents the strongest sonic soundscape of HIDEOUS DIVINITY thus far. Still as technical and brutalising as ever, while simultaneously being their most expansive sounding effort to date, atmosphere, melody and dissonance intermingling with technicality and abrasion effortlessly. It would be nice to see the Alien/s theme explored deeper on the level a full-length would allow, but regardless of the lyrical content, it seems on a musical level HIDEOUS DIVINITY are set to reach a whole new level of darkness.

LV-426 is out now via Century Media Records. 

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