Progeny Review on Burnyourears.de
www.burnyourears.de
Reviewer: chris
March 28, 2008
Violins in death metal are an unusual thing and other than MY DYING BRIDE or old EISREGEN I don’t know of too many other bands outside of the folk music spectrum that assign the instrument a leading role. That’s why New York-based HUNG is a surprising new discovery for me. The band takes its name from the name of their violinist, Lyris Hung, and indulges in progressive, melodic death metal.
In the New York area the band is already quite well known thanks to what was until now their only release, after all, they shared billing with bands like SOILWORK, GOD FORBID and DARKEST HOUR. This is also surprising because HUNG sound completely different from these heavyweight genre-mates and have the violin center stage, on an equal footing with the (only) guitar. Perhaps it may have helped that HUNG incidentally run their own promotion and production company as well as booking agency. But to cut a long story short: the band already has numerous fans and entrusted their second release, “Progeny,” to the expert hands of Eric Rachel (GOD FORBID, SYMPHONY X, BLACK DAHLIA MURDER), who was in charge of the recording, and Alan Douche (CONVERGE, MASTODON, UNEARTH, among others), who was in charge of the mastering.
The nicely packaged Digipack has four tracks; the sound is clear and not at all thin, but still falls a little bit short on the dynamics and tonal range. No wonder, since guitarist Evil John focuses for the most part on the melody and not on chord progressions, which leaves me wishing for a rhythm guitarist in some places. When the violin and guitar are playing simultaneously and dueling it out and then the bass comes in as well, it gets to be a little too much. So less would have been more in some places.
The welcome contrast comes from the dark growls of singer Dmitry Kostitsyn, who alternates between clear singing and death metal shouts. When the guitar focuses more on the groundwork and the bass adds a solid foundation to it, without also adding some noisiness, the already dominant sound of the violin is given room, the whole concepts sounds excellent to my ears as well.
The main allure of “Progeny” clearly lies in the unusual parity of the terrifically played violin with the guitar. Furthermore, the very clear and barely atmospheric overall sound of the record is quite atypical of a death metal release. If one gets used to that and considers the songs in and of themselves, things are somewhat balanced out: fans of a melodic onslaught get their just desserts, but those who like it more simple and aggressive are going come away less satisfied.
I find it difficult to make a conclusive judgment. If I listen to the record continuously, I find it is in fact grating, but with some time elapsed, I do like to listen to it every now and again because it sounds pretty interesting and stands out among the usual same old same old. So, I advise everyone to form their own opinion of the music and check out the songs on the website. Those who feel at home listening to progressive death with folk influences will surely be pleased by “Progeny.”
Scoring: 1 = diarrhea 2 = rotten 3 = acceptable 4 = average 5 = nice 6 = good 7 = really good
8 = rules 9 = awesome 10 = brilliant
Style (Running Time): Progressive Death (34:29)
Label/Distributor (Year of Release): HUNG Productions (2007/2008)
Rating: 6/10
Link(s): www.hungrocks.com
Reviewer: chris
March 28, 2008
Violins in death metal are an unusual thing and other than MY DYING BRIDE or old EISREGEN I don’t know of too many other bands outside of the folk music spectrum that assign the instrument a leading role. That’s why New York-based HUNG is a surprising new discovery for me. The band takes its name from the name of their violinist, Lyris Hung, and indulges in progressive, melodic death metal.
In the New York area the band is already quite well known thanks to what was until now their only release, after all, they shared billing with bands like SOILWORK, GOD FORBID and DARKEST HOUR. This is also surprising because HUNG sound completely different from these heavyweight genre-mates and have the violin center stage, on an equal footing with the (only) guitar. Perhaps it may have helped that HUNG incidentally run their own promotion and production company as well as booking agency. But to cut a long story short: the band already has numerous fans and entrusted their second release, “Progeny,” to the expert hands of Eric Rachel (GOD FORBID, SYMPHONY X, BLACK DAHLIA MURDER), who was in charge of the recording, and Alan Douche (CONVERGE, MASTODON, UNEARTH, among others), who was in charge of the mastering.
The nicely packaged Digipack has four tracks; the sound is clear and not at all thin, but still falls a little bit short on the dynamics and tonal range. No wonder, since guitarist Evil John focuses for the most part on the melody and not on chord progressions, which leaves me wishing for a rhythm guitarist in some places. When the violin and guitar are playing simultaneously and dueling it out and then the bass comes in as well, it gets to be a little too much. So less would have been more in some places.
The welcome contrast comes from the dark growls of singer Dmitry Kostitsyn, who alternates between clear singing and death metal shouts. When the guitar focuses more on the groundwork and the bass adds a solid foundation to it, without also adding some noisiness, the already dominant sound of the violin is given room, the whole concepts sounds excellent to my ears as well.
The main allure of “Progeny” clearly lies in the unusual parity of the terrifically played violin with the guitar. Furthermore, the very clear and barely atmospheric overall sound of the record is quite atypical of a death metal release. If one gets used to that and considers the songs in and of themselves, things are somewhat balanced out: fans of a melodic onslaught get their just desserts, but those who like it more simple and aggressive are going come away less satisfied.
I find it difficult to make a conclusive judgment. If I listen to the record continuously, I find it is in fact grating, but with some time elapsed, I do like to listen to it every now and again because it sounds pretty interesting and stands out among the usual same old same old. So, I advise everyone to form their own opinion of the music and check out the songs on the website. Those who feel at home listening to progressive death with folk influences will surely be pleased by “Progeny.”
Scoring: 1 = diarrhea 2 = rotten 3 = acceptable 4 = average 5 = nice 6 = good 7 = really good
8 = rules 9 = awesome 10 = brilliant
Style (Running Time): Progressive Death (34:29)
Label/Distributor (Year of Release): HUNG Productions (2007/2008)
Rating: 6/10
Link(s): www.hungrocks.com
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