When you’re contacted by a band with whom you are not familiar and the first thing you see is some truly gorgeous cover art (designed by Carlos U Man), it’s hard not to have your interest piqued. The band in question, Dying Hydra, are based in Copenhagen, Denmark and deal in atmospheric sludge. The band’s bio reveals that its various members have considerable experience as musicians in the Danish metal scene and that experience certainly shines through on this debut, four-track EP. Recorded, mixed and mastered by Patrick Fragtrup (also guitars and vocals in the band), the EP certainly sounds the part, the band dealing out brutal riffs but with plenty of dynamic to keep things interesting.
The EP opens on the sinister riffing of ‘Mother Reptile’, the band quickly unleashing a wall of scarifying sludge in a manner reminiscent of Isis at their heaviest. A taut, dynamic beast of a song, it’s driven by Tejs Kyhl’s powerful percussion and it’s impressive that the band, a three-piece, are able to coax so devilish a sound out of their strained and over-heating amps. It’s a hell of a first impression and the band sensibly keep it short and to the point before heading into ‘Kalahari’. Another track that emerges from a subtle, clean riff, ‘Kalahari’ is methodical in the way it breaks the listener down with its monstrous barrage of sound, the band unleashing a deadly, neck-threatening groove as the song progresses. It’s a potent brew to be sure and it’s clear that Dying Hydra are set to gain a whole new audience with these none-more-heavy slabs of sound.
Although you’d be forgiven for thinking it couldn’t get any better, the none-more-black sonic assault that is ‘Obsidian’ is easily the EP highlight with its deathly vocals, gruelling riffs and whip-crack drums all combining for three and a half flawless minutes. Definitely a track that you’re going to want to see live, it sits at the heart of the EP like an open, throbbing wound. It leaves only ‘higher wolf’ to see the EP out. A pure adrenalin rush from start to finish, ‘higher wolf’ is basically a sonic defibrillator, sending huge shock waves through your nervous system, forcing the listener to stop whatever they’re doing and headbang compulsively – seriously, don’t listen while driving, you’ll end up driving at 140 the wrong way down a one-way street… it’s just that sort of track. With phased guitars, arcing riffs, percussion that sounds like Thor striking his mighty hammer on the anvil of the world and tar-streaked vocals, it leaves the door open for a full-length offering of epic proportions and, if these four tracks are any indicator of quality, then it cannot come soon enough.
A striking exercise in dynamic, Dying Hydra’s self-titled EP builds perfectly over the four tracks on offer here. From the blistering opening cut, ‘mother reptile’, to the tumultuous finale, ‘higher wolf’, not only do the band not put a foot wrong, but they actually up the ante with every track. The production is powerful and, for the most part, impressive, although I’d like to see some cleaner highs to balance out the brutal sludge of the guitars, but this is nit-picking – this is one hell of a debut EP and you have to check it out! 9
