Review: Hematovore - Untitled

Label: Acerbic Noise Development

Released: 2004

Hematovore is what you'd get if really heavy, technical bands scored movies. Untitled is a constantly changing landscape, yet the songs flow together into a single piece of work. The band combines layers of the technical thrash of Prong and difficult to nail down avant-garde experimentalism with the melodic theatrics of Queen and Maiden and occasionally even straightforward hard rock for contrast. Just like the flow of a film, the album alternates between calm surfaces with churning undercurrents and all out assaults, sometimes with smooth transitions and other times with agitated mathy shifts. Often drawing comparisons to Pelican, Hematovore actually found their own niche with a grander sound that more tells a musical story than sets a musical mood. While the album is highly technical, it still maintains a rich warmth, making it more a piece of art than the artistic exercise that similar projects often devolve into. It would be an overstatement to say that Hematovore is the John Zorn of metal, but such a sentiment is not without any basis in truth.

Rating: 8/10

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