Artist: Hollow Hour
Album: Till The Grey Skies Are Gone
Progressive metal band, Hollow Hour, will be releasing their debut album on January 20th, 2023. The album is titled Till The Grey Skies Are Gone and will be available anywhere you get your music.
Hollow Hour is made up of four members and hails from a small Danish town outside of Copenhagen called Køge. Three of the current band members formed a band in 2015 under the name Mosaik. Eventually, the fourth member was added, the band became Hollow Hour, and they released a string of singles in 2022.
Of the album, the band says, “Till The Grey Skies Are Gone was written during and after a two-year period of lockdowns, which gave us many opportunities to reflect on ourselves and the world around us. We found no shortage of real-life issues, experienced both collectively and personally. The album reflects our journeys with hard-hitting tracks such as “Ember”, “Deafening” and “I Got the Knife”. Moreover, songs like “The Mirage” and “The Canyon” soothe you in an anthemic soundscape filled with uplifting hooks. The grey clouds were the stones in our path, scarring and altering the realities we each had to face.”
The album consists of ten tracks: I Am No God; I Got The Knife; Cipher; Deafening; Ember; The Canyon; Summer Sun; Gemini; The Mirage; and Neon. “The Canyon” and “The Mirage” have music videos on the band’s YouTube.
Hollow Hour reminds me of bands like Volbeat, System of a Down, and Three Days Grace. They combine technical instrumentals and melodic vocals with the typical guitar-focused aggression of metal genres. Additionally, the lead singer has an amazing, powerful voice without any screaming.
The band kept it fairly simple with both available music videos, although if you are sensitive to flashes I would not recommend watching. Both videos feature simple shots of the band performing against various backgrounds, however they may have gone a little too hard with the special effects (hence the flash warning). I think more laid-back music videos show that the band is more focused on the actual music.
My favourite song on the album is “I Got The Knife,” with it’s slower, haunting sound. I also seriously appreciated the artists sharing the deep meaning behind both “The Canyon” and “The Mirage”. “The Mirage” is about the downsides of organized religion, with lyrics like “God drowns/the whole world now/Don’t be fooled/by the temples’ shady vows/Bright eyes, the mirage lies/Don’t be fooled/by the deceiving light.” Meanwhile, “The Canyon” is a personal story of betrayal and the struggle to move past it, with lyrics like, “It’s not pride nor hate/It’s my inner shame/Wounds are canyon-shaped/And I need you to break my chain.” I love when bands are able to be vulnerable without losing the musicality and relatability of the song.
Overall, I really enjoyed Till The Grey Skies Are Gone.