Australia has never has any doubt when it comes to the sheer quality of its metal scene taken for all that it is, but too often does it not get the credit it deserves as often as more well-known bastions of metal music. We could sit here for an entire day talking about the wondrous names that Australia has pumped out over the years across all styles with there always being something excellent to be newly enjoyed from the sunburnt country. Hybrid Nightmares was one of my first experiences for that very truth, and it’s nine years after first hearing them that I still twitch with excitement at the very prospect of new material from the act given their raw potential and clear talent. Now, five years since their last offering, they’ve returned with their second full-length in utterly tremendous form.
While I still have great love for their 2019 EP, “The Obelisk”, as it is still a constant in my listening habits, there has never been any shred of doubt in my mind that Hybrid Nightmares can put forth some truly exceptional offerings of intensity with their specific brand of extreme progressive metal not quite like much of what I’ve heard throughout the underground in my years since discovering the act. Time has been incredibly kind to the band with their quality only seeming to grow even as they put forth a relatively steady stream of experimenting within their sound to really see what they’re made of. It was in 2017’s “Almagest” that we saw that notion taken to great lengths for the band’s first full-length album, but it was then in the following EP of the aforementioned “The Obelisk” that we saw the act take its progressive tendencies down a path that was much more aggressive akin to what we saw throughout the 2015 saga that was the four “Ages” EPs. Thus, it was clear Hybrid Nightmares could take their sound down any path they damn well pleased. With the arrival of the cosmic offensive that is “Woeful Inertia”, it’s evident they opted for the more intense option while never once sacrificing their flavorful progressive edge.
This feels like the album that Hybrid Nightmares has been building up to for over a decade now. Everything about their sound plays a key role in the vast expanse that these eleven tracks cover from acoustic passages to undeniable melodies wrapped in an extreme metal shell to a terrific backdrop of interstellar oppression, rebellion, and bloodshed on a grand scale with everything constantly driven by this supreme intensity that is constant in its aggressive nature without exception. “Woeful Inertia” sees Hybrid Nightmares come full circle while simultaneously heralding in the latest stage in their sonic evolution with this ritual feeling the most fleshed-out and most satisfying creation that this otherworldly force has dished out. Nothing was left on the table nor was there an opportunity not seized to maximum effect as “Woeful Inertia” sees Hybrid Nightmares capitalize at every possible turn without fail no matter the form it comes in be it a ripping solo, cry for revolution throughout the stars, or the crushing weight of the cosmos upon the self. Hybrid Nightmares spent the last five years as a constant presence in their native live scene, but it’s clear now that they’ve been exceedingly hard at work at bringing their second full-length album to life in pain-staking detail. Any of us would be remiss to even dare suggest that time wasn’t incredibly well spent.
Time and destiny are clearly on the side of these extreme metal cosmic crusaders. They have only aged line the finest of wines with their craft becoming ever more interesting and enticing from beginning to end virtually without fail or blemish to be had in the entirety of the nearly hour-long run that “Woeful Inertia” boasts. It’s been clear for some time that 2024 was going to be an extremely bountiful year for someone like me with releases from the likes of Herxheim, Cantique Lépreux, Job for a Cowboy, and more already having shown us what their made of with the likes of Inter Arma, Crypt Sermon, Ende, and even more returning with brand new material, but there’s something special about seeing the return of Hybrid Nightmares. Like the prodigal children of an eons-old prophecy that herald in death and blood-drenched worlds as their light aflame, “Woeful Inertia” sees Hybrid Nightmares in peak form without exception.
Hail, Hybrid Nightmares! Hail the Obelisk!
LISTEN to “Woeful Inertia” via multiple sources here.
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