Hacavitz - Darkness Beyond review
| Band: | Hacavitz |
| Album: | Darkness Beyond |
| Style: | Black metal, Blackened death metal |
| Release date: | February 24, 2015 |
| A review by: | Ilham |
01. Terra Nihil
02. Deadream
03. Livskit
04. Darkness Beyond
05. Herejia
06. De Humo Negro Y Ceniza
07. Time Is Now
Careful what you wish for.
As Dave Gahan says, God's got a sick sense of humour. And when a Hacavitz fan prayed for a little more originality in the infectious blackened death they're known and loved for, the Man In The Clouds thought it would be funny to inspire the Mexican band to write a black metal album instead. But "what's wrong with black metal?" I hear you inquire. Nothing. The mention of those two words is usually enough to make my pupils dilate and my heart rate rise.
Instead, the first listen of Darkness Beyond felt like I was slowly seeping into a deathlike coma. Unfortunately, it seems the will to make a grim and evil sounding record trumped everything else. Indeed, along with the death metal base, Hacavitz threw inspiration, enthusiasm, and humility down the drain.
For It takes some arrogance to think old and weak riffs like these, paired with the most lazy songwriting, could hold anyone's attention for more than four minutes. The record is an hour long ordeal broken down into (a minimum of) seven-minutes long bloated indifferentiable tracks of late '90s sounding, slow-paced, and limp black metal. Limp is really the best word I could find to describe the band's playing. At no point whatsoever do you feel any energy, any punch, any oomph! coming out of this. So limp, that a male me would have been afraid of never being able to get it up ever again after listening to the full album. But you know, there are pros and cons to everything: being single and listening to this multiple times on Valentine's day killed any sex drive that could have caused me to be frustrated.
You'd think the general feel of the album could be reason enough to listen to it, but there is nothing in Darkness Beyond that you haven't heard before and/or that isn't better executed by other groups. There's not that much too hear anyway, with a production that is almost too clean for the sound they're going for, and yet still unbalanced because the lazy drums seem to sometimes disappear behind the uninspired guitars and non-existent bass.
To the guy who wished for a different Hacavitz:
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 6 |
| Songwriting: | 4 |
| Originality: | 3 |
| Production: | 7 |
Written by Ilham | 15.02.2015
Comments
Comments: 18
Visited by: 150 users
| Zap Posts: 3589  |
So, it's safe to assume that I shouldn't bother with this then? I love black metal, but any excitement that I could have had for this album just took its last breath because of this review 
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| Windrider Raureif Posts: 684  |
I've had some good laughs during the middle of that review, thanks  also, nice to see a fellow (assume-to-be) Depeche Mode fan here hehe.
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| tea[m]ster Au Pays Natal Contributor Posts: 5266  |
Lowest rating I've seen from a staff review in a while - I will check out this debacle just for the curiosity. Well-written as usual - and thanks.
---- rekt
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| DahliaRock Posts: 153  |
Hahah good thing I read this review before jumping on it just because of the name! teaches us once more never to piss you off, not with our name on it at least
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| Ilham Giant robot Posts: 5161  |
Written by Zap on 15.02.2015 at 11:52 Well, who knows, you might have a different opinion. But if your thing is subtlety, and good songwriting, you might want to stay away .http://darkdescentrecords.bandcamp.com/album/darkness-beyond Here are two sample tracks. Maybe you can try these out and tell me what you think. If you're into death/black I suggest you could try the pervious album and Venganza. They knew how to play that.
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| Ilham Giant robot Posts: 5161 |
Written by Windrider on 15.02.2015 at 13:22 Depeche Mode is my favourite band ever haha. I was wondering if anyone would recognize the reference and name, and apparently you are the chosen one. We are going to be friends .
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| Windrider Raureif Posts: 684 |
Written by Ilham on 16.02.2015 at 12:00 Well DM was my first ever favourite band... Now I only listen to them from time to time, but I do and I still keep up to date with them
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| Ilham Giant robot Posts: 5161 |
Written by tea[m]ster on 15.02.2015 at 16:04 Haha, morbid curiosity is the best. Thank you, Jay.
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| Ilham Giant robot Posts: 5161 |
Written by DahliaRock on 16.02.2015 at 11:49 I'm watching you.  Yeah, I myself volunteered for the review just because I knew them from before. Of course, I have no problem with the change itself, it's just that they don't play this kind of bm as well as they used to play their former style. You're welcome to share your opinion on it if you ever try it out  .
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| DahliaRock Posts: 153 |
Written by Ilham on 16.02.2015 at 13:17 change is always welcome, that's why Ulver is one of my favorites, that's the reason Devin Townsend rocks my puppet socks! if I find time, I will try to slip this one in between, but with all the gorgeous releases dropping all over the place, this one sunk deep down on my list, especially after your review! 
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| Zap Posts: 3589 |
Written by Ilham on 16.02.2015 at 11:55 Yeah, I know those albums, they're quite decent, but I'm not a huuuge fan. I listened to the first sample track and it bored the hell out of me. You weren't lying about that deathlike coma; I started feeling really sleepy all of a sudden. I turned it off when the song had been going for at least 15 minutes but apparently it's not even that long.
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| Ilham Giant robot Posts: 5161 |
Written by Zap on 16.02.2015 at 18:41 Of course I am not just looking for negative opinions that confirm my review, but it's good to hear that someone had a similar experience .
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| X-Ray Rod Skandino Staff Posts: 18439  |
The 2 tracks I listened in their bandcamp page were pretty decent. Judging by those 2 tracks I most probably disagree with you. Nothing out of the ordinary though. 6 to 7 stuff. Might check out the entire thing. The tracks are long though, I'd give you that... This is the kind of bm that would have worked much better if it was cut down by at least 20 mins.
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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| Ilham Giant robot Posts: 5161 |
Written by X-Ray Rod on 16.02.2015 at 21:18 I personally think that something that isn't extraordinary AND should be but down by a third of its length to be enjoyable (summing up what you said, not adding my own grievances) doesn't deserve more than the average. But I'm happy someone likes it, enjoy !
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| X-Ray Rod Skandino Staff Posts: 18439 |
Written by Ilham on 16.02.2015 at 21:48 I just felt that I was going to hear something so bad it was insulting based on your writing. Your hyperbole tricked me.  The tracks individually sound good enough. They basically could have released 2 albums with this. It's not the same as deleting.
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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| Ilham Giant robot Posts: 5161 |
Written by X-Ray Rod on 16.02.2015 at 21:00 I don't give something horribly bad more than 3.5. I still think cutting this in half doesn't save it. Each half will remain just as uninspired and limp. It isn't just about the length, I am not that greedy with my ratings .
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| Daggon Underpaid M.D. Posts: 1689  |
Actually I really liked this album, it's a huge change for the band, they sound quite different compared to their previous albums, they have some balls, I give them that.
---- "Les vers savent qu'ils n'ont pas d'ailes, c'est pour cela qu'ils se cachent sous terre"
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