So Hideous – Last Poem / First Light

The Hideous Landscape

You don’t have to be loud to be heavy. So Hideous, the New York based shoegaze/black metal band, are out to show you that heavy music isn’t always just double bass and tuned-down riffs. On debut album, Last Poem / First Light, we are drawn into an intense and melancholic musical landscape. This album has pianos, strings, clean guitar parts, double bass, grindcore drums and vocals as dark as the night sky.

From the first blood-curdling screams of “Rising” it is evident that this is like nothing else you’ve heard. Classical musical instruments add depth to this record that cannot be overstated, making the bone-crunching assault that much heavier. “Stabat Meter,” the second track, is one of the heaviest pieces of music you’ll ever hear. This includes the two minutes of solo piano that concludes the song. It’s truly amazing how well they put these two genres together. It’s incredibly difficult to be as loud as this band is and also retreat to the level where they can, in the same song, have just classical instruments close the tune.

Every song on Last Poem / First Light is an absolute opus. Nothing falls short of the four minute marker. Each song has a particular introduction to it, but the flow from one song to the next is seamless. The last track, “Glory,” clocks in at over seven minutes.

Overall, So Hideous’s Last Poem / First Light is the perfect combination of classical, shoegaze and black metal. That is a combination you didn’t even know you wanted, but it might be one of the best black metal records released this year. Its intensity is only matched by its beauty. Their future isn’t so hideous.