The amount of artists twisting death metal to its physical and mental limits has ballooned in recent years, which is expected when bands such as Gorguts and Krallice and Atheist and others have spent years rewriting and updating the DNA. Disciples are to be expected, and the ones that have new things to offer will continue to stretch the boundaries.
Dylan Cruz (Noxis, Scumbag, Dissonance) solely helms Hanging Garden, and this project always demonstrated its capacity to keep taking death metal elsewhere. “Dream Death” (not sure if the title was inspired by the legendary Pittsburgh-based band) is the second installment in the band’s story, and it’s seven tracks and 41 minutes of progressive death that feels natural and channeled. Cruz puts dexterity and ambition into the music, trading brutality for brainy instrumentation in spots that always hits the mark. It’s an easy-to-digest record if you’re a seasoned listener, but it also is a good guide for anyone who has yet to take on death’s more flexible terrain.
“Arete” rips opens and jolts, growls lurch, and atmosphere bursts from the seams, the guitars churning before halting. Calm flows as keys flush, and then the violence renews, adventurous playing soaring, leads taking off, and shrieks jostling your spine, blistering and trudging before subsiding. “Ondine” snares and blinds, growls crush, and the force clobbers, wrecking as it makes your brain tingle. The bass slithers as the pace melts, the guitars climbing out of a vortex, the screams ravaging. The engine reignites as things get uglier, the vocals reach into your bowels, and a slight glitch hits a stormfront and runs into “Dreamwoven” that immediately impacts. Beastly growls flex as airy violence strikes, shrieks belt, and then an oddly breezy sequence ruptures. The playing stomps and stuns, guitars catch fire, and the final moments stymie.
“Carambola” explodes, melodies charting courses, the howls retching as the momentum kicks in harder. Guitars go crazy, reaching zany territory, growls crushing and drums battering. The leads explore before going more tranquil, keys bathing your psychological wounds. “Endymion” stomps, guitars gliding, the drums kicking holes in skulls, a progressive force unfurling multi-colored wings. Vicious howls leave marks as the playing turns mystical and quaking, the final moments spitting cinders. “Tears of Lustful, Secret Desire” is active right away, howls ripping and guitars buzzing, rampaging through a burning hellscape. Growls wrench as the playing rips harder, guitars encircle, and spacious headiness infects. Closer “Suffering Radiant Memories” starts with rustic acoustics before guitars build and then take flight, hitting more ambitious waters. The vibe is cool and calm before a new charge ripples, tearing apart earth and lashing with a last gasp of electricity.
Cruz continues to poke and prod with his progressive form of death metal, and on “Dream Death,” the Hanging Garden ethos gets thicker and more complex. This album feels perfectly served, never overstaying its welcome, and delivering mental journeys that leave you stimulated. And bruised. This also is heavy as fuck and does physical damage that teams with the challenges it puts on your brain.
For more on the band, go here: https://hanginggarden-label.bandcamp.com/
To buy the album (U.S.), go here: https://us.tometal.com/
Or here (also U.S.): https://transcendingobscurity.indiemerch.com/
Or here (international): https://eu.tometal.com/
For more on the label, go here: https://transcendingobscurity.bandcamp.com/
Meat Mead Metal 