Hybreed Chaos – Subliminal Abyssal Carnage

· by Laurent Bellemare

On its third album, Hybreed Chaos achieves an ambitious metamorphosis. The band maintains its old school yet avant-garde death metal roots despite a drastic change of personnel. In this instrumental form “with cello,” the Montreal trio proves to be more relevant and promising than ever.

As always, the music is largely built around the rhythmic ideas of drummer and founding member Frank Camus. He combines driving grooves with all manner of rhythmic permutations, such as polyrhythms and irregular metrics. The result is an oddly interesting but limited signature. Indeed, the most interesting bifurcations of the drums often tend to fall back on comfortable rhythms. When the music speeds up, it doesn’t last very long either. But these characteristics aren’t necessarily bad, since they allow an atmosphere of heaviness to take hold instead of the sense of urgency often incurred in modern death metal.        

What’s surprising is how well the music works, even when stripped of vocal arrangements. The timbre of the electric cello perfectly conveys the heaviness necessary for this type of music, giving the melodic component of the pieces a new colour. The melodies, it should be stressed, are more anguished chromaticism than lyricism. The trio formula also leaves plenty of room for the bass to rumble and underline the rhythm, as well as complementing the cello’s phrasing. Quite short, Subliminal Abyssal Carnage nevertheless keeps things interesting, with a freely improvised intro, a surprise solo by Daniel Mongrain (Martyr, Voïvod) and a brutal, chaotic finale.

Nevertheless, this is a band in transition, and it shows. Subliminal Abyssal Carnage is an album that might well never have seen the light of day, and that’s probably what gives it a slightly muddled feel. The production is excellent, but the arrangements could certainly have been more ambitious, notably by avoiding certain repetitions and taking on more of the progressive side of the pieces. The visuals also leave something to be desired. The beautiful abstract cover is hampered by amateurish computer graphics and fonts. We hope that in the long term Subliminal Abyssal Carnage will be the necessary cornerstone for a unique reincarnation that will continue to refine itself. Something to look out for!

Latest 360 Content

Transforming Hiroshima mon amour into contemporary opera: Christian Lapointe and Rosa Lind tell the story

Transforming Hiroshima mon amour into contemporary opera: Christian Lapointe and Rosa Lind tell the story

Sparks – MAD!

Sparks – MAD!

“Hiroshima, mon amour”: An Evening to Remember

“Hiroshima, mon amour”: An Evening to Remember

Peter Murphy – Silver Shade

Peter Murphy – Silver Shade

Ken Pomeroy – Cruel World

Ken Pomeroy – Cruel World

Art of the Line: Klangkarussell’s Euro Vision at SAT

Art of the Line: Klangkarussell’s Euro Vision at SAT

Festival des Saveurs | Closing With Reggae

Festival des Saveurs | Closing With Reggae

Centroamérica – a powerful docu-play about truth and connection in an age of distance and denial

Centroamérica – a powerful docu-play about truth and connection in an age of distance and denial

Lido Pimienta – La Belleza

Lido Pimienta – La Belleza

Tamir Barzilay – Phosphene Journal

Tamir Barzilay – Phosphene Journal

The best ‘’Candlelight concert‘’ ever.

The best ‘’Candlelight concert‘’ ever.

Men I Trust – Equus Caballus

Men I Trust – Equus Caballus

The Halluci Nation – Path of the Baby Face

The Halluci Nation – Path of the Baby Face

A lap steel guitar choir and an angel to end the Innovations en concert 24-25 season

A lap steel guitar choir and an angel to end the Innovations en concert 24-25 season

The OSM and Abel Selaocoe: Evenings When You’d Like to Stop Time

The OSM and Abel Selaocoe: Evenings When You’d Like to Stop Time

Reaching for the sky: Francis Choinière’s challenge to end his OPCM’s 10th season

Reaching for the sky: Francis Choinière’s challenge to end his OPCM’s 10th season

Piknic 3: A Little Bit of Everything Under the Sun

Piknic 3: A Little Bit of Everything Under the Sun

Cazzu – Latinaje

Cazzu – Latinaje

Stereolab – Instant Holograms On Metal Film

Stereolab – Instant Holograms On Metal Film

SMCQ | In memoriam Jocelyn Morlock

SMCQ | In memoriam Jocelyn Morlock

Abbey Road at Festival Classica

Abbey Road at Festival Classica

Mira Choquette – Hier encore

Mira Choquette – Hier encore

Jared Dunn; Anna Gorecka – Gorecki’s World of the Piano

Jared Dunn; Anna Gorecka – Gorecki’s World of the Piano

Subscribe to our newsletter