It doesn’t take too long into “Lucifero,” the opening track of Danish doomers The Hyle‘s four-song Demo, to figure out where they’re coming from. Pressed in a limited edition of 150 tapes by Caligari Records — pro-printed thick-stock four-panel j-card, black and clear case, purple cassette with the print directly on it (rather than a label) — the release finds the somewhat mysterious three-piece nestled into the post-Electric Wizard frame of doom, starting out with quiet, spacious, foreboding guitar and opening quickly into a rolling groove topped with a winding smoke-trail of a lead. Echoing clean vocals provide further basis for the comparison throughout “Lucifero” and its side one companion, “Serpent King,” as well as side two’s “Spiritual Sacrifice” and “Children of the Divine,” but if it’s a sonic likeness noted, let that also stand as testament to The Hyle‘s ability to craft a hook, since “Lucifero” likewise serves significant notice in that regard.

They keep lineup information minimal, but Demo was recorded, mixed and mastered by Jens Dandanell and Caligari has seen fit to keep true to its overarching atmosphere with the tape, the inside liner of which is dedicated to a murky, almost black metal-style photo by Rasmus Leo that complements the All is Visual cover of the release itself. The music is similarly cohesive. It may or may not be The Hyle‘s first release, but Demo sounds like the work of a band who knows what they want out of their sound, “Serpent King” branching out further vocally than “Lucifero” and helping distinguish the band from their central point of influence even as they continue to weave a torrent of low end punctuated by classically swinging drums with an otherworldly psychedelic vibe. “Serpent King” fades out long on a guitar solo to close out side one of the tape, a moment’s respite consumed by droning before “Spiritual Sacrifice” and “Children of the Divine” take hold.

A more fervent stomp provides the resounding impression of “Spiritual Sacrifice,” at least initially until the slow unfolding hypnosis takes hold, pushing farther out into darkened psychedelics and an obscure morass of deep tonality. By then, The Hyle‘s nod is locked in, and they do nothing to interrupt it as side two plays out, though they clearly save their nastiest riffing for last. “Children of the Divine” is meaner in tone than its predecessors, if consistent in its overall approach, its abyssal drear and spaciousness marked by a particularly memorable riff and groove-riding vocals, laid back in their delivery, but showing a burgeoning personality that could easily develop over time, layers arriving in a languid call-and-response chorus that coincide with some later guitar harmonics to speak to a stronger sense of arrangement and performance to come as The Hyle move past Demo. As a first release, though, these four songs are confident in their presentation of aesthetic and likewise assured in their craftsmanship. For many listeners, elements will ring familiar, but it’s in the flashes of individuality throughout Demo that The Hyle‘s real potential is unveiled.

The Hyle, Demo (2014)

The Hyle on Thee Facebooks

The Hyle on Bandcamp

Demo at Caligari Records

Caligari Records on Bandcamp

There’s just something about doom on a purple tape that feels right. Comprised of four tracks split up onto two sides, Danish four-piece The Hyle unfurl the wizardly electricity of their debut Demo on tape via respected purveyor Caligari Records. The riffy doomers are a relatively recent advent — they’ll play their first “official” show this month, though I don’t know how many unofficial gigs precede it (the photo above had to be taken somewhere) — but the four cuts bleed well together for nearly a half-hour immersive runtime of languid doom that’s already started to catch attention. Hence the cassette release.

Only 150 copies are being pressed by Caligari, who sent the following down the intestinal windings of the PR wire:

THE HYLE – Demo Out Now On Tape – Danish Doom

The Hyle hail from Denmark and this 4-song demo introduces their sublime doom rock to audiences that are more used to bestial vulgarity, chauvinistic rock and roll, raunchy thrash metal, generic metal ov death and cheesy heavy metal than they are to swift arrangements and expansive guitars, clean vocals elucidating dark and curiously morbid lyrics and paused drumming and subjugated bass playing. Listen to The Hyle and let your perception get the message; their unnerving passivity reveals something insalubrious lurking beneath.

The Hyle is inspired by the occult and esoteric teachings of Robert Fludd, who among others had difficulties defining the term the Hyle. It can’t be described in isolation, because it is in fact, the essence of not being anything: it is infinite non-existence. Therefore The Hyle is not created, for it is the material of which created things spring.

The Hyle receives its main inspiration from the gap between existence and non-existence, and the sound can be seen as a manifestation of something both created, and creating.

4 songs and almost thirty minutes of music, it is all it takes for The Hyle to turn their insides out…

Pro Tapes / Pro JCards

Limited to 150 Copies

This is the 21st release of CALIGARI Records.

https://caligarirecords.bandcamp.com/album/demo
http://caligarirecords.storenvy.com/collections/277955-all-products/products/10967700-the-hyle-demo-cal-021
https://www.facebook.com/CaligariRecords
https://www.facebook.com/thehyleband
http://thehyle.bandcamp.com/

The Hyle, Demo (2014)