Hacride
Amoeba
Listenable
Care for a little paella with your bouillabaisse?
I don’t know what it is with France these days, but we’re starting to see a wave of talented Gallic bands that pack a bigger wallop than Zizou’s coup de tête. Gojira are unquestionably the leading French metal practitioners of the moment, but the boys might want to check their rearview mirror, because Hacride are rapidly gaining ground. After showing hints of potential greatness on their 2003 debut, the foursome take a big step forward on Amoeba, one of this young year’s bigger surprises.
Although clearly indebted to Meshuggah and Strapping Young Lad, Hacride take a much more straightforward approach, avoiding SYL’s histrionics yet maintaining that grandiosity, co-opting the massive crunch of Meshuggah while focusing more on groove than complex rotating time signatures. While we can often see the band’s forays into mellow, Opeth-inspired departures coming well in advance, a song like “Fate” shows us that they’re not devoid of prog-metal ingenuity, as squealing riffs give way to contemplative acoustic passages and ambient synth drones.
“Liquid” hints at King Crimson, while the closing one-two punch of “Ultima Necat” and “On the Threshold of Death” achieve a dignified beauty that rival anything Gojira have done. However, nothing can prepare us for the blindsiding power of the brilliant “Zambra.” A collaboration with neo-flamenco eccentrics Ojos de Brujo, it’s a thrilling fusion of two highly disparate styles, psychotic Mediterranean rapping underscored by chugging riffs, flamenco strumming and exotic percussion. The rest of Amoeba was already very good, but such an inspired cover choice warrants an extra point. —Adrien Begrand
