5 out of 5

Label: Hydra Head

Produced by: Tim Stroh

Early Hydra Head is a wild world of one- or two-release bands, with few discoverable credits to most of the players besides those releases, showing off what experimental metal was in those early days: smashing things together and finding what worked. The Hollomen are totally math-rock, featuring a kind of June of 44 brokenness and compositional quirk that one could maybe trace through bassist Cory Murchy, who would go on to both Kill Sadie and Minus the Bear… Of course, we also have Aaron Turner in the mix, and while this is a far cry from the slowburn heft of things like Old Man Gloom, it’s clear that Turner earned his way to truly outre stuff by having a lot of valuable influences and skills up front.

Cutting a line through that is the Daughters-esque mumble scream of singer Scott Vermeire, with some screamo-esque backing vocals punctuating tracks alongside the funking bass, and a kind of post-grungey shuffle.

The lyrics are maybe the soft spot here, but their tracking of relationship woes are not complicated, but neither are they constructed of outright tropes, and there’s passion in the delivery. I can dig it.

And that chugga-chugga post hardcore outro? Sure, just a final bit of spice.