I am not a musician, nor do I have any experience when it comes to writing a song, but I know for a fact that composing purely instrumental music while being confined to the setup of a typical rock or metal band is insanely difficult. Case in point: there must be at least a thousand bands out there that only utilize drums, bass and one or two guitars, but only very few stand out from the masses. Today I’m writing about a fairly new band that, in my opinion, manages to have that extra little something to differentiate itself from the others: Hybridism! Their self-titled debut EP was released almost exactly two months ago and after giving it a first listen recently, thus discovering what I had missed, I decided to bring my thoughts to virtual paper.
The issue I have with many instrumental bands, is that they have not found the balance between variation and catchiness: it’s either too repetitive, with two riffs being repeated ad nauseam or it’s an uncoordinated mess of “look what I can do”…and I do understand that it is very fine line between both ends of that spectrum, but I just can’t get invested in the majority of bands that try to achieve that balance act. What sets the quartet apart from the rest, is that every instrument knows exactly how often to play its part before switching it up, and especially the guitar parts are built and arranged in a fashion that they feel like an evolution of each other, rather than completely new parts.
I know, the main question on your mind is probably the one that is always on everyone’s mind: does it djent? It does. Yes, it very much does. The six tracks are packed with tasty bass riffs and a non-negligible amount of open A guitar strings being played, but as I mentioned earlier, it’s never too much and always thrown in at just the right time. Especially since the second guitar provides a sonic variation in those instances in the form of more intricate parts.
I remember on my first listen, I wasn’t completely paying attention until the fourth track, Glitch, came around and that was exactly the moment that I knew that I had something special ahead of me with these thirty-two minutes. I guess that my affinity for said track is because it starts with a video-game-like midi track being played before erupting into a fast-paced riff explosion that I immediately fell in love with. At this point I also have to mention the flawless production of the EP, because it lends a ton of gravitas to the well-crafted compositions.
All in all, what can I say? If you are not averse to music without vocals and liked the heavier spectrum of it, absolutely give Hybridism a shot! The guys managed to cook up a nice and well-varied debut release that deserves to be heard. So be sure to click on the video below for a full stream and if you want to keep up with them, head over to their Facebook page.