Review Summary: Elite groove metal fundamentals wrapped in a classy progressive package
Do you guys remember the kids from that YouTube video who got famous for being “The youngest metal band better than Metallica”? Yeah, well they’re still around, now on their third album. Before getting into
Nonetheless, let’s take a moment to look through their discography.
Hammerhedd began as a relatively straightforward technical thrash metal and 90s groove metal inspired band with some minor progressive sensibilities, releasing a debut EP that got really popular being temporally adjacent to their YouTube video. Not a bad start for a first album, though their production sound was muddy, the band showed that they’re quite technical with their instruments and that they know their way around writing a solid riff. Despite being a technical thrash metal album made by children, I found this album to be fairly overrated at face value.
Personally, it was not until their first LP, the aptly named
Grand Currents, that I became truly impressed with their songwriting. This is the kind of album I’ve always wanted to exist but never knew was out there. For those uncultured, the very first djent album was
Meshuggah’s 1994 EP
None: a perfect fusion between the thick chuggs from
Pantera’s
Far Beyond Driven and
Meshuggah’s sharper and more mechanical
Destroy, Erase, Improve; since then, I feel like no true sequel to
None has ever come out. However,
Hammerhedd’s
Grand Currents is probably the closest we’ll get to that exact sound. I know many will not share my opinion, but I love this album. If groove metal is anything real, these guys have written the chonkiest, grooviest groove metal album I’ve heard from underground prog metal; the Platonic ideal groove metal album.
“But Sabrina! This is not a
Grand Currents review! Cut to the chase with
Nonetheless already!”
A three-year gap separates their first LP and
Nonetheless. Here
Hammerhedd expands their sound significantly while remaining true to their signature style. As one might imply prima facie, the tone of this album is less like a constant barrage of crashing waves like in
Grand Currents; rather
Nonetheless is more ominous and subtle.
The riffs often take on the role of bridging the gap between the album’s atmospheric builds and its intense climaxes. Slithering like a
Tool-riff from the menacing
Jaws-esque bass chords, somber keys, and atmospheric guitar padding to the aggressive
Gojira/
Pantera style shouts, angular riffs, intense drum fills, and clashing cymbals. Some of
Nonetheless’ best climaxes also take the form of these staccato/syncopated breakdowns where you can’t help but be impressed with how good the musician synergy is; this can also be said for the solos and jazzy interludes on the longer tracks.
Additionally, I’m pleased to say that this album has no bad tracks! This is a very good indicator of the artists’ restraint and ability to repeatedly refine one’s compositions. I’m usually quite disappointed seeing albums bloated with songs that are too long and tracks that are too mediocre. And it is not often that I read reviews that praise transition tracks; I generally like transition tracks, but I’ve had album of the year contenders that have god-awful instrumental interludes that almost ruin the album. “Down the Hall and to Your Left” and “Lost” are just the right length and contribute substantially to the album’s flavorful experience, speaking tall tales with few words.
While this album is not the perfect niche that its predecessor was, it exceeds with its grandeur, creativity, progressive songwriting, and even in its instrumental technicality (and I am certainly including the vocals). What I loved about
Grand Currents is still here–its chugging, hypnotic riffs, but now
Nonetheless feels a lot more like a complete piece of art rather than the common-man’s headbanger-fest. The back-to-back success of
Nonetheless and
Grand Currents show that
Hammerhedd are amongst the elite core of underground progressive groove metal bands, maybe even rivaling some of the greats.
Attribution: https://theprogressivesubway.com/2023/04/19/review-hammerhedd-nonetheless/
