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Hollow Leg, Murder EP: Dark Skies Ahead (Plus Track Stream)

hollow leg murder

[Click play above to stream the premiere of ‘Raven’ from Hollow Leg’s new EP, Murder. Release is March 3 via Argonauta Records.]

About three years ago, Floridian sludge metallers Hollow Leg issued a single called “God Eater” (posted here). It was a one-off, kind of something to hold over between 2013’s Abysmal (review here) and Crown (review here), which would eventually arrive in 2016. And it was only ever a single-song digital-only deal, but it showed a marked shift in approach on the part of the band, backing off on some of their earlier rawness in favor of glimpsing melody and Southern metal groove. That song has stayed with me to some degree since 2014, and I only bring it up because it was the last time the Jacksonville four-piece had a short release out, so naturally, going into their new Argonauta Records two-songer, Murder — positioned as an EP rather than a single; fair since I don’t know if it’d fit on a 7″ for runtime — I couldn’t help but wonder in what ways they’d try to build on what Crown accomplished.

And to that — Crown accomplished plenty. Hollow Leg have always had a root in sludge metal, and the aggression in vocalist Scott Angelacos‘ roar will remain a defining aspect to anyone who takes on the Murder EP, but their last album opened new doors of their creative development and the band stormed through them with their usual brash plunder. Plenty about it was familiar going back to their 2010 debut, Instinct, but Angelacos, guitarist/vocalist Brent Lynch, bassist Tom Crowther and drummer Tim Creter were very obviously working to push themselves forward in their sound as well.

Fortunately, Murder continues this process. It also marks a personnel shift, bringing in drummer John Stewart, also of Orlando’s Caribou King, in place of Creter. That in itself could be enough justification for the release — Creter was a founding member, so it could be that Hollow Leg were looking to try out the new lineup in the studio and are happy enough with the results to make them public — but either way, Stewart fits well in the role and his arrival does nothing audible to hold up the stylistic progression within Hollow Leg, who between the two tracks “Murder” (7:25) and “Raven” (5:33) showcase continued instrumental growth. The opener begins at a shuffle that seems to be in direct conversation with “Electric Veil” from Crown, more upbeat than one has necessarily come to expect from Hollow Leg, but still fluid in its groove and molasses-thick in tone.

hollow leg

At about the halfway point, they turn the tempo somewhat on its head and ride out the nod, but in Lynch‘s riff early and Crowther‘s accompanying bass — which gets a particular moment to shine just before five minutes in — there’s a feeling of departure similar to what “Electric Veil” brought to the full-length, as though somebody in the band had been listening to Uncle Acid and sought to bring some of that garage-style boogiecraft into the context of what Hollow Leg does. On paper, it shouldn’t work. The reality of “Murder,” on the other hand, is a satisfying push of sludge that expands the dimensions of Hollow Leg‘s comfort zone to include another aspect of stylistic nuance. They finish by bringing back a heavy rock thrust, crashing out and letting the amp-rumble take them into “Raven,” which begins with Stewart‘s drums at an immediate strut.

Quick pause and they’re into the first verse of “Raven” — full blast in terms of tone, growl, crash and riff. The second cut on Murder feels a little more like the core Hollow Leg have developed and built on, but however they go, they go angry. Angelacos‘ unwavering gutturalism arrives in layers for the chorus (unless that’s Lynch backing him, which is possible), and the roll of the guitar, bass and drums behind him makes the song seem even shorter than its under-six-minute run actually is. Another shift takes place about halfway in, moving to chugging met with tom hits and a punctuating snare, eventually crashing in rhythm behind the vocals before returning to build yet more tension for the next round, from which they open up to a guitar lead and then chug their way out to finish, a kind of back and forth play working its way through efficiently measure by measure.

They’re not inexperienced with this sort of fare, but the clarity of purpose behind “Raven” and its subtle catchiness are further emblematic of just how tight Hollow Leg have become at this approach and how much they’ve made their sound their own over the course of this decade. That’s the main lesson their Murder EP (you’ll note the crows circling on the cover art): that even with the lineup change, they’re still very much able to bring together an offering that moves them stylistically forward from where they were even just a year ago while also reaffirming the underlying pissed-off sludge that’s been their righteous cause since they got going. Murder might be Hollow Leg testing the ground for a new lineup, and it might be an outlet for a studio experiment, but with the songwriting tenets they’ve developed over time, there was ultimately little chance it wasn’t going to work — and so it does.

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Hollow Leg on Bandcamp

Argonauta Records website

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One Response to “Hollow Leg, Murder EP: Dark Skies Ahead (Plus Track Stream)”

  1. Jay says:

    Sweet write-up JJ! Love everything these guys do all the way back to Bloodlet and that last Hollow Leg lp was killer….so was that Junior Bruce record as well.

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