The Eye of the Storm - Metal From the Midlands
Hurtseason
There once burned a conflagration of titanic proportions in the heart of England that blazed rapidly across the country and throughout the world, and it was known as heavy metal, and it was good. The band held responsible for first wielding the monstrous riff in the heartland of this nation were known as Black Sabbath, and they rapidly turned this world to ash. In the years that followed, the banner of metal was waved across the globe from the West Coast of the US to Armenia, from India to Brazil, all the while gathering millions of ardent, passionate followers into its ranks.
And yet somewhere along the way, somehow people forgot the significance of the industrial city of Birmingham and the disillusioned few who chose to redefine the way that the world thinks about or listens to music. Metal, as all music, became subject to the whim of the money –printers, the commercial fuck-pigs who sugar the cyanide and force it down your throat; it became flabby, over-produced and undervalued and lost any retention of real feeling. Even the monsters of the genre were willing to enjoy the fruits of others’ labours, all the while their treasures-piles grew and their integrity dwindled. Yet the place from where this monolithic, metallic fire spawned, a spark had re-ignited a small but fierce blaze; the midlands would stay quiet no longer...
At the eye of this storm are Hurtseason, a band bristling with talent and uncontainable angst, sounding like the horrendously mutated child of Randy Blythe and Adam D of Killswitch Engage. Their first release, an EP called The Dreamers & The Dead, is a startling statement of intent, which shows bucket-loads of maturity and ferocity. The guitar work is relentless and angular, and the vocals ably switch between LoG-esque growls and soaring lyrics. The music is never reliant upon derogatory breakdowns or needless guitar flair; it is a solid and brutal sucker punch, with the quality of the songs belying the youth of this outfit. Hurtseason are not going through the motions; The Dreamers & The Dead listens like a handbook of the disaffected. If the monstrous End All Reason (listen to this searing track on the player at the bottom of the page) doesn’t make you want to smash your head into any object within reach, then there’s definitely something wrong with you; although there’s probably something wrong with you if you do... Needless to say, with an EP of songs of this ferocity, you’d be foolish to miss Hurtseason, especially if, like me, you’ve been disappointed with KSE’s output in recent years. Don’t deprive yourself of this.
With bands like Hurtseason erupting from the heart of Britain, it is unsurprising why it feels like an exciting time to be on the periphery of the UK metal scene. If bands like this can channel the dark intensity once demonstrated by Black Sabbath, then it seems that the backlash against over-produced tripe will once again spawn from the heartland of this country. Expect to hear a lot more from this Birmingham based quintet; if you’re around Birmingham on April 9th, get over to Scruffy Murphy’s for what looks to be a blistering set from Hurtseason.
For all the rest of you, try not to get distracted by the sky when all around you new and heavy music is setting the earth ablaze. Keep your ear to the floor, and let me know.
Always looking in,
The Outsider
Find them on:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/hurtseason
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/hurtseasonuk
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