In recent years there seem to have been an influx of two piece acts, both on the underground scene and that of the wider circuit with bands such as Japandroids, Slaves and Royal Blood already having the louder end of the spectrum covered… that was however, until the Hyena Kill arrived.
Brought together out of a love for Queens of the Stone Age, Deftones, Helmet and Tool, the duo that are the Hyena Kill have released a couple of low key EP’s and singles already but it’s with the upcoming debut album that the band start to take themselves up a notch.
The majority of tracks here are loud and shouty, the guitars are distorted in a way that you’re unaware that the noise is being made solely by guitarist Steven Dobb (who also takes up lead vocals) but at the same time there’s nothing deliberately fancy as it’s all about making as much of a racket as possible whilst successfully maintaining some kind of tune.
“There’s nothing more therapeutic than screaming your head off” explains Dobbs and you only need to listen to the first couple of tracks in “Crosses” and “Your Loss” to tell he’s certainly exorcising some sort of personal demons, but whilst Atomised may well be therapy for the singer/guitarist there’s something rather enjoyable about it for the rest of us.
If you listen to the vocals close enough you can hear the Deftones influences in the likes of “Still Sick” as they switch between half sung and half screamed with a lungful of distaste for the world, but on the whole the Hyena Kill are that of a garage rock band rather than the more complexity of Sacramento’s finest.
That is until the halfway point and a surprising tune with “the Waiting Room” where the vocals, on this occasion coming from elsewhere, make for more of a moody tune and shows another side to a band who normally thrive in a wall of big intense noise.
It may well be this song where the mastering credits of Christian Wright come into play (having made a name for himself working with Radiohead, Blur and Ed Sheeran), although Blundell hammers the kit hard enough the rest of the time to compete with Dobbs amplifiers with little need for any tweaking behind the mixing desk.
This is but a mere break and it’s soon back to what has been expected, turned up guitars and a lot more shouting in the form of “Tongue Tied” onwards, culminating in “Erase You” before the album’s title track weaves in and out of cleaner guitars, effective drum fills and a bit more raw power leaving the Hyena Kill with an album to be proud of.
The Hyena Kill “Atomised” is out 16th May on Proud Cow Records:
