Hammerhands - "Glaciers" 2013 (Album Review)

Well their name certainly matches their music, I imagine it would be very difficult to play an instrument with hammers for hands. I would expect lots of chugging and pounding and for that Hammerhands definitely delivers. For the most part "Glaciers" sound is comprised drone and chugging guitars. The music plods along with your typical sludge metal shouting. Personally I have never cared for the vocal style and find it incredibly boring, this in combination with the slow chugging music does not provide much interest and I wound up losing focus on the music very easily and it just became background noise for me while I was drawing. The first two tracks of the album were so similar that I did not even notice the song had changed. With the exception of the title track I found very little about the album that I actually enjoyed. And to cap it off the album ends with a 30 minute track titled "Equus" that for the most part is an atmospheric instrumental piece.

Now I can dig lengthy atmospheric tracks as long as the music/sound is composed well enough that tells some sort of story. But "Equus" is just a lengthy drone track that lacks focus and just becomes noise. About half way through it starts to remind me of the untitled track off Gigan's album "The Order of the False Eye" the key difference being that track had a more compelling atmosphere and at least felt organized like a song even if it was just an unrehearsed jam session.  “Equus”, though very similar falls short of telling a compelling story and crosses the border into just being noise.

All is not a waste though, as I mentioned earlier the one song that stood out was the title track which had a more melancholic tone and a bit more musical interest. It has just enough variety and atmosphere to make the song enjoyable. This at least shows that there may actually be a future for HammerHands and after they gain some more experience they will possibly be able to produce a more competent album.

(I give "Glaciers" a 5 out of 10)

2013 Albums

I didn't search for new albums as much as I did last year, and a lot of what I found didn't interest me enough to pursue it further. So my list is a lot shorter this year.   

0. "Album title" Band (Genre) [score out of 10]

description. Recommended tracks: (If any particularly stand out.)

1."The White Goddess" Atlantean Kodex (Epic Doom Metal) [9]

I really expected a lot from this album, perhaps too much. I enjoyed  “The Pnakotic Demos” and “The Golden Bough” and was really looking forward to this album, and after hearing “Sol Invictus” I was really expecting this to be a tremendous album. However the last two tracks on the album just didn’t grab me and kind of blur together and that’s what kept me from giving it a 10.  Recommended tracks:  “Sol Invictus” and  “Heresiarch”

2."Multi-Dimensional Fractal-Sorcery And Super Science" Gigan (Progressive/Technical Death Metal) [9]

The new vocalist Eston Browne is a great improvement, as the vocals were the weakest part of the last album. This album isn’t as good as the EP and first album, but it come pretty close. Recommended tracks:  “Mother of Toads” and “Gibbering Hordes of Zemiath”

3."IV: Mandragora" Botanist (Experimental Black Metal) [9]

This is my favorite Botanist album to date. The music has a strong chaotic beauty that’s difficult to describe.

4.  split “Vestiges / Panopticon” Panopticon (Atmospheric Black Metal) [9]

The score is only for the Panopticon side of the split, as I downloaded it from their bandcamp page and never actually listened to Vestiges side of the split.

5."Ave Mortis" Cromlech (Heavy/Doom Metal) [8]

I really like this album but they could really use some more slower and softer parts. It’s almost exhausting when listening to this album in its entirety and the shouting just gets annoying at times. Recommended tracks: “Of the Eagle and the Trident” and “Shadow and Flame”.

6."Mysterium" Manilla Road (Epic Heavy/Power Metal) [8]

Recommended tracks: “The Grey God Passes”, “The Battle of Bonchester Bridge” and “The Fountain”

7."Black Soil" Horse Latitudes (Doom Metal) [8]

If the last album was a man, this would be the same man now broken down into a more primal and angry animal.

8."Lancer" Lancer (Power Metal) [8]

The most fun and whimsical power metal album I heard this year. They still need to try and diversify their sound to help distinguish themselves from other popular euro power metal bands that play a similar style. Recommended tracks:  “Purple Sky”, “The Exiled” and “Mr. Starlight”

9. "Borrowed Time" Borrowed Time (Heavy Metal) [8]

Recommended tracks:  “Wallow in the Mire!” and “Of Nymph and Nihil”

10.  EP "The Powers That Be" Phantom (Heavy Metal) [8]

11."Roots" by Saor(previously known as Àrsaidh) (Atmospheric Folk/Black Metal) [7]

12. "Target Earth" Voivod [Progressive Thrash Metal] [7]

13. "Eye of the Storm" Bud Tribe (Heavy/Power Metal) [7]

14."Beyond The Martyrs" Argus (Heavy/Doom Metal) [6]

15."Glaciers" by Hammerhands (Sludge Metal) [5]