UMUR "Back to Where You've Never Been" is the 4th full-length studio album by French progressive extreme metal act Hacride. The album was released through Indie Recordings in April 2013. The band´s last album "Lazarus" was released in 2009, so Hacride are not the most fast working band around.

There is however an attention to detail on "Back to Where You've Never Been", that could explain the relatively long break between albums. The music on the album is groove laden progressive extreme metal featuring hardcore shouting vocals and occasionally also clean vocals. The rythms are heavy, the riffs sharp and futuristic sounding synths/keyboards are omnipresent. The tracks are not overtly complex in structure, but they often break out of the vers/chorus formula, and there is a progressive spirit present at all times.

The album is well produced and the band are well playing, so all in all "Back to Where You've Never Been" is a quality release. I´m not sure I think the band´s sound is that original, and they don´t really reach the songwriting heights of contemporaries like Gojira or Outcast, but "Back to Where You've Never Been" is still both an enjoyable and entertaining release if you enjoy acts like the two above mentioned and also a band like Textures, which I´m also reminded of. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is warranted.

UMUR "Deviant Current Signal" is the debut full-length studio album by French technical extreme metal act Hacride. The album was released through Listenable Records in 2005.

The music on "Deviant Current Signal" is technically well played thrashy and groove based metal. I count artists like Meshuggah, Gojira, Strapping Young Lad, Soilwork and Pantera among the influences. The album features eight tracks. Six of the tracks are new studio recordings but the last two tracks on the album are demo tracks. Probably included to boost the total playing time beyond the 30 minute mark. Well that was my first thought, but the quality of the demo tracks are actually pretty high.

The music is guitar riff driven but it´s also dominated by the raw shouting vocals by Samuel Bourreau (which somewhat reminds me of Phil Anselmo from Pantera without ever reaching the same intensity level though). The rythm section plays tight and varied. Songs like the energetic opener " Human Monster" and the more mid-paced "Typo" are high quality tracks. But that´s the general picture of the material on the album.

The musicianship is solid. In addition to the "regular" rock/metal instrumentation of guitars, bass and drums, "Deviant Current Signal" also features the occasional use of synths as atmosphere enhancers.

The sound production is decent and suits the music well.

"Deviant Current Signal" doesn´t quite reach the excellence of the best albums by contemporaries like Meshuggah, Gojira, Strapping Young Lad, but less is sometimes enough and overall the album comes off as professionally produced, well played and relatively well written too. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

Conor Fynes 'Amoeba' - Hacride (5/10)

Generally, a two star rated album would be rated as such due to it's general mediocrity and uninspiring nature. A lower, 'mediocre' rated album usually does not have 'great moments' or anything like that. Having said that, 'Amoeba' can be considered a two star album with honours. There's certainly nothing you haven't heard here; this is just progressive death metal at it's heart. Alot of the songs are pretty listenable, and some are even great. I'll have to save the reason as to why I can only rate the album so low for later, but when you consider that with a little tweaking, 'Amoeba' could have been a whole lot better and listenable.

As I say, the majority of the album is pretty solid in fact. The closing track 'On The Threshold Of Death' and the beginner 'Perturbance' are both great songs. The finale of 'Threshold' is a superb, djinty riff and it builds up extremely well before going into an intelligent climax. 'Perturbance' opens the album with a smooth but aptly foreboding acoustic segment before literally exploding onto the soundscape; guitar fury, strange time signatures, percussive destruction and extreme growls typical of the genre. The next two songs also keep the streak of quality going. So.. why is this album rating so suprisingly low? Well suffice to say, the greatest fun is yet to come!

After the third track trails out, an acoustic intro much like the one that opened the album starts playing, and I get excited that this must be another great song. Before long however, the real kicker sets in... As to why Hacride decided to collaborate with a Spanish hip-hop act, I will never know. What results is one of the worst, most annoying tracks I have ever heard. Just imagine a decent, albeit unoriginal progressive death metal album with something that can only be described as the hispanic equivalent of Crazy Frog thrown into the middle. For the sake of being suprising, it certainly worked, but I will still never know why Hacride decided to ruin their album by hiring some women to babble incessantly over their mix and create the single only case in my entire music library where I can't help but press the 'skip' button anytime it rolls around. While it's only one song, it sabotages every semblance of flow or cohesion the album might have had. Much like a bridge, one hole in the album's resolve seems to have made it useless.

Hopefully somewhere in a parellel dimension, Hacride would sooner throw Ojos De Brujos off a remarkably tall bridge before letting them touch their mix. I love it when bands throw unexpected genres into metal, but it really, really does not work here. It might sound strange that I am attributing most of the flaws of the album to a single song, but if you don't believe me, go spend some money and buy the album. If you're anything like me, you'll be as dissapointed as I was.