Not from dark Norway, as you might expect from this kind of music
(Blackmetal), but from sunny Australia (Brisbane), the quartet HOPE
DRONE makes its third album by now. In 2012 the band gave their
fi rst sign of life with the digital single „From Mimas To Phoebe“. The
following year, the self-titled debut was released on OSCL (Australia)
and MOMENT OF COLLAPSE. In their Australian homeland, the band
played from now on as a solid support for Deathwish or Relapse
bands. Consequently their second album „Cloak Of Ash“ (2015)
was also released on RELAPSE.
With this album, the band finallymanaged to establish themselves at the top of the league of modernpost-black metal bands. For their third album „Void Lustre“, the
quartet took a little more time. The fi ve songs consistently continue
the band‘s path. Nothing is rushed here. Slowly and deliberately,
atmosphere and tension build up and then end in a blastbeat
thunderstorm. The sound is not strictly bound to (black metal)
conventions and oscillates between ambient, post-rock, drone and
post-hardcore and sludge elements.
„Void Lustre“ is not a blind rage, but a thoroughly breathtaking and intense album. The nihilistic singingof CHRIS ROWDEN is accustomed to complaining and skillfully
subordinates to the instrumental garment, so that there is never
obtrusiveness. If you are looking for a related band, you will fi nd
them at DEAFHEAVEN and WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM, but ALTAR
OF PLAGUES and DOWNFALL OF GAIA are also mentioned here.