Hoth
Astral Necormancy

Hoth is of course an ice planet in the second Star Wars movie, you know the one where Han says; “…and I though they smelled bad on the outside” and Luke is nagging about Yoda in his feverish condition. Yeah, that’s the Hoth, it is apparently also some character in the Norse mythology and a decorated German generaloberst who served in the world wars and was later convicted for war crimes – I guess two of those uses fits well for use as a name for a band of the black metal disposition. I am unsure what inspired this band but I guess the cold Star Wars place is probably the most likely and with this new album it is said that they explore unforgiving darkness, cosmic mysteries, travel in cold dark places and many more things in a conceptual journey going in all direction or is without direction and hope. It is many things according to the press material; the cover isn’t too exciting though.

On the subject of the musical style of Hoth, I think that claiming that they belong in the black metal style is a good description and then you can spice it up with many additional terms. Melodic, cosmic, epic, experimental, adventurous, all of those and several others fits quite well, perhaps linking them with European styled melodic black metal is the best way to give a general idea of the sound they present. The music is fairly melodic but also quite energetic, with good raspy vocals that merge well with the overall soundscape that is quite adventurous in a cosmic sense. Like a bit of a journey through cold and darkness, exploring directions and paths that never really leads anywhere and leads everywhere, it starts with vengeance and ends up in solitude – kind of leaves off where it begun and everything happens in between.

Too long perhaps with over 50 minutes of playing time, but I don’t know as the album has variation and depth, it travels many places but leaves off almost with the same sense as it starts so one might forget the journey in between. But I don’t think it is too long, I am kept listening for the duration by the great quality of the songs, especially Passage into Entropy. I think this should appeal to those enjoying the black metal genre as well as the ones enjoying the previous works of Hoth, a cold and dark and icy journey through the cosmos with a black metal soundtrack – that could be one way to describe it. I am not too often impressed by stuff of this genre but this album I really like and its only real flaw is that it probably won’t look too good in my record collection and that it doesn’t seem to be released on vinyl which is the only format I buy.

Hoth makes a great album, much more exciting than the planet Hoth. I can really recommend it as I have found it most gratifying to play it several times over, I think you might find out that it is the same for you if you give it the chance. So don’t miss Astral Necromancy because it is a great and catchy album, cold as the planet Hoth and more brilliant than most of the stuff you find in the black metal genre.

HHHHHHH