When you think of Norwegian metal, riffs of the doom and sludge variety don't immediately come to mind. But Hymn's take on headbanging music isn't tied to any region in particular. On their second album, the Norwegian duo of guitarist/vocalist/noisemaker Ole Ulvik Rokseth and drummer Markus Støle play a fascinating blend of broiling sludge, cacophonous post-metal, and taut groove metal that sinks into rhythms meant to stiffen necks. Each of the four songs on Breach Us feature various movements and noticeably different approaches from one another, resulting in a tetrad of destruction that never grows weary, boring, or repetitive.
The title-track opener boasts a yelly vocal delivery and chunky, down-tuned guitars that wouldn't sound out of place at a metallic hardcore festival. There's a raw, primal rage in the performances that feels solidly removed from the arthouse metal of Neurosis or the crushing ugliness of Eyehategod, two bands that Hymn could've been compared to on their 2017 album Perish. "Exist Through Fire" shifts to a more instrumentally-focused direction that peaks during a hefty polyrhythmic groove that's so tight and rigid that it could be classified as djent. Eventually, sections of inflamed sludge guitars burst in and out of that hypnotic passage, creating a sound that's equal parts Meshuggah and High On Fire.
"Crimson" is perhaps the most straightforward doom cut in the whole tracklist, but its ending is flushed with hellfire noise that clears the ears for the record's titanic closer, "Can I Carry You". The 14-minute sidewinder begins with a few minutes of eerie vocals from Norwegian noise musician Guro Moe before it explodes into a rollicking sludge track. Eventually it slows down to half-speed as black metal guitar whirrs take over and tear the track apart as it sputters to a brief halt. Then, an insane, torpedoing guitar riff (according to the credits it's a guitar, but it sounds exactly like a bassline) enters the fray and the song takes a four-minute walk through an underworld of jazzy, noodly post-metal. It's a completely different sonic locale from where the record began—hell, where that song began—and it's one of the most exciting finales to a metal record in recent memory. © Eli Enis/Qobuz