Altsounds - The Hickey Underworld - The Hickey Underworld [Album]

After reviewing The Hickey Underworlds 'Blonde Fire' single last week I was rather looking forward to casting my critical ear over their debut long player, and I wasn't disappointed. The Hickey Underworld deal rather splendidly in the practice of combining walls of guitar feedback with more melodic moments of clarity and for the most part it works a treat.

The lively clatter of 'Zero Hour' really drops us in at the deep end with some of the most abrasive guitar sounds I've heard in a while and the first of many punishing vocal performances from frontman Younes Faltakh. It's like a hyper take on early 90's grunge music fed through a blender and is pretty exhilarating stuff, like the Melvins given an adrenaline boost. The album as a whole however takes a drastically polarised stance to most debut albums in that it starts with it's most brutal track and actually gets more and more conventional as it progresses. After the first track I was expecting the following 9 tracks to follow suit, but the melodic sensibility that revealed itself to me over several listens really opens up on the albums later half.

Where the band excel primarily is in their ability to blend such an esoteric and destructive sound with some truly remarkable hooks. On 'Sick Of Boys' for example, the chorus rings with a passion and melodic conviction that wouldn't have sounded out of place on an early Foo Fighters record and 'Of Asteroids And Men' contains some stellar Queens Of The Stone Age quality riffs. Both songs cover their moments of convention though by burying the mix in harsh, trebly feedback, it's a juxtaposition that works really well but might end up putting off many potential fans. It really is a love it or hate record as far as the production goes.

We get one moment of reserved introspection amidst the chaos and bluster and that comes in the shape of the lurching 'Blue World Order.' Here Faltakh sounds exhausted and deflated over a stilted beat and sparse guitar work, the chorus still manages to shine though and the fact that this low-key beauty is hidden amongst such works of anger only goes to highlight it's greatness, so it hits home even harder. This song revealed to me the influence of prog-punkers The Mars Volta, an influence which on the third or fourth time through becomes more apparent on the album as a whole, the difference here though is that The Hickey Underworld have a way with a hook that The Mars Volta seemed to fall out of favour with after their first album.

It's not all rainbows of course, the lyrics are largely nonsense, (they are Belgian though so give um some credit) 'Of Asteroids' might contain some excellent riffage but it doesn't seem to know what it wants to be and Zorayda sounds like a bad Cooper Temple Clause song (remember them?). For every duff moment though there are many more great ones, like the twisted, Strokes on acid dance punk of 'Blonde Fire' and 'Future Words' or the climactic, wing-spreading fury of the closing 'VRMNSMR.' It's an album that many will find hard to get into, but those that do will reap plentiful rewards.

It's a grower alright, and is that not true of all the best albums?

Tracklisting:-

1. Zero Hour
2. Sick Of Boys
3. Blonde Fire
4. Zorayda
5. Future Words
6. Mystery Bruise
7. Of Asteroids And Men/ Plus Added Wizardry
8. Blue World Order
9. Flamencorpse
10. VRMNSMR

Recommended:-

Zero Hour, Sick Of Boys, Future Words, Blue World Order, Flamencorpse, VRMNSMR