I have been listening to a lot of progressive metal lately, most recently TesseracT’s new album Polaris and this new EP from Every Hour Kills, which also happens to be their self titled debut release. I came across this band early 2014 when I was sent Viathyn’s album Cynosure which was produced and engineered by Sacha Laskow from a band called Every Hour Kills. Neat, new music!
Listen to the whole thing while reading.
Fast forward to today and I’m jamming this heavy, energetic and throttling debut by that very same band. I checked out “Almost Human” before the release and liked it right away, and it’s easily the most headbanging of the five tracks. The majority of the EP gets progressively (clever, eh?) slower with each song. “SaviourS” sounds like it should be in a video game with the various noises and sounds that occur throughout the whole song, and “One Reason” being the release’s ballad. “One Reason” does have a super badass solo, which is pretty much the type of solos I love.
Bonus points! But now for the cons…
The whole EP is incredibly over engineered, produced and to the point that it is sometimes un-listenable, but if you are into that style of production which is very prominent in progressive metal today, I think you’ll be quite pleased with this release. The transitions are spot on; front man Jerrod Maxwell-Lyster vocals just drive each song into the sky and the delivery of each instrument is pristine and flawless – albeit very loud.
A band that has self-produced, self-recorded and engineered the entire record themselves, I am impressed. I was already impressed when Sacha produced Cynosure. I love the EP, but tone down the volume!
Every Hour Kills – Pick up a copy here!
4/5
