Review Summary: A new band with new ideas.
Until recently, I would have considered the fusion of trance/house music and melodic death metal to be something ... well ... I probably wouldn’t even have considered it. However, clicking on a random link took me to a page that was streaming the debut EP of some new band I had never heard of. At first I was disappointed, but the genre that Hands Like Glass were listed under intrigued me. Upon clicking “play stream”, I was introduced to the unique musical styling of trance metal.
Combining two seemingly opposing styles of music, HLG blend electronic ambiance with metal’s intense ferocity seamlessly. Rather than simply patching together sections of one style with the other, the two genres flow together: harsh, death metal roars pounding into atmospheric soundscapes, soaring vocals over top of brutal riffs and furious double bass drumming.
Individually, the members of HLG perform their parts adequately. The guitar riffs are thick and punishing; exactly what you would expect from a Gothenburg-influenced melodic death metal outfit. The drums provide less of the typical tick-tock, blast-beats found in melodeth, and more of the pulsing rhythm you would expect from trance (albeit with far more intensity), while the bass fills out the low end sufficiently, if a bit underwhelmingly. The real brilliance of HLG lies in their synth player and their vocalist. Unlike other metal keyboard players, Castillo neither plays over top of the guitars nor consigns himself to playing atmospheric notes in the background. Snaking in and out of every guitar riff, vocal passage, and drum fill, the keyboards provide an atmosphere that is both dynamic and subtle, complementing certain parts and contrasting others. Just as dynamic is the vocalist, who switches back and forth between a death metal growl, strikingly similar to Mikael Stanne, and a James Labrie-esque clean voice, all the while conveying both passion and intensity.
If there is to be any major criticism here, it would lie in the overall song writing. The songs, for the most part, follow the typical verse chorus verse format, and, despite a breathtaking sense of dynamism within each song, by and large, the album lacks in diversity. With an older and more experienced band, I would be more inclined to hold these faults against them, but given their youth and relatively recent formation, they are to be expected.
The truly impressive thing about a band this young is the ability for each member to pull out an incredibly tight performance, creating music that is greater than the sum of the whole. With Unveiled Faces is one of the most exciting debuts in a long time, offering up a fresh and unique new sound and proving that, if played with passion and skill, there are no two genres that cannot be combined.
Hands Like Glass are:
Mason Premo – vocals
Jimmy Amaya – guitars
Ces Linares – bass
Jopasety Castillo – synths
Eddie Intagliata – guitar
Cory McMahan – drums
