(written by Islander)
The Slovakian death metal band HROB was founded by Michal (guitar, vocals) and Kiko (guitar) in November 2021, and eventually the band settled into a solid lineup completed by drummer Matej and bassist Vrana. Atomic Vision Productions released their self-titled demo in 2023, and now their debut album Brána Chladu is set for co-release on April 27th by Memento Mori (Spain) and Night Terrors Records (Netherlands).
The labels describe the music as “a putrid death-doom metal abomination that evokes a sense of dread and desolation,” alternating between “slime-slow passages soaked in brooding heaviness and shake-you-from-a-trance pummeling blasts,” with a “well-timed injection of hauntingly melodic leads and caveman-crude tremolo riffing, respectively.”
What we have for you today is the album’s second single, the whiplash-inducing “Zotročený Oheň“.
The description of HROB’s music as a putrid death-doom abomination that evokes a sense of dread and desolation is accurate, as you’ll discover for yourselves by listening to this new song.
When driving ahead at furiously clobbering speed the song’s filthy tremolo’d riffing generates a skull-scouting churn that’s simultaneously dismal and demented, and the subterranean bass undulations are bowel-loosening.
On the other hand, when the pacing suddenly slows, the music staggers, moans, and whines like the ghastly sonic equivalent of putrefying flesh. The vocals are equally ghastly, a sewage-choked guttural roaring that’s as cold as ice and just as heartless, and when the band switch into a rhythmic stomp, it’s also heartless.
But on the third hand, rapidly rippling and supernaturally echoing lead guitars rise up in harmonies of heartbreak and misery — slowly wailing, convulsing in pain, and eerily quivering — and the vocals also explode in incinerating screams of wretchedness. Those forlorn melodies really lock arms with ancient doom traditions, and they cause the song to stand out just as much as the sudden spasms of death metal violence.
The song doesn’t have any use for smooth segues. The changes are constant, jolting, and unforeseeable — hence the reference above to whiplash. But man, HROB are really good at both sides of their chosen spectrum.
Memento Mori will handle the CD version of Brána Chladu, while Night Terrors will handle the vinyl and cassette versions, all of it featuring the chilling cover art created by Jan Vlášek. They highly recommend it “for maniacs of equally early Paradise Lost and Septic Flesh as well as DiSEMBOWELMENT, Asphyx, and Gorement“.
For more info, and to order, see the links below. We’re also including a stream of the album’s first single, “Tiene Stromov“.
MEMENTO MORI:
https://www.memento-mori.es/
NIGHT TERRORS:
https://night-terrors-records.net/
https://night-terrors-records.bandcamp.com/album/hrob-br-na-chladu
HROB:
https://www.facebook.com/hrob.death
https://hrob.bandcamp.com