Artist: Hacktivist
Album: Hyperdialect
Year: 2021
Genre: Metal
/ Hip Hop / Grime / Djent
I just
finished listening to Hyperdialect for the fourth time in a week. It’s obvious I like the record, but there is
still something making me scratch my head about it. What is that?
Well, in my more advanced age, I truly did not think a band planted
firmly in the rap-metal genre would again enter my life. It’s not the mid-90s, right? I know this sounds closedminded, but we’re
talking rap-metal, one of the most hated genres on the planet. Even when it was the 90s, my interest in
music of this nature leaned more towards the Biohazard, Korn, Deftones type of
band rather than the Limp Bizkit, Dog Eat Dog, Hed PE camps. I didn’t even go past the first Rage Against
The Machine album. Being a metal fan,
and a much smaller hip hop fan, I never found a band that fused the two music
styles well at all. Sure, one-off songs
by Faith No More, Anthrax and tracks off the Judgement Night soundtrack were
cool, but no one made a whole album that was high quality. The bands that tried seemed contrived, as if they
were trying to make something for popularity rather playing from the heart. That is important to me and rap-metal
continued to underwhelm me to this day.
I would rather just throw on some Public Enemy, Killer Mike, Paris,
RUN-DMC, Ice Cube and so on and skip having the “metal” involved.
So how did rap-metal-UK
grime-industrial-djent band Hacktivist enter my life? Smart advertising by YouTube, that’s
how. Their video for the title track had
a cool thumbnail on the side of the screen and I clicked, watched, listened…and
clicked again. The song “Hyperdialect”
had its hooks in me both visually and sonically. I will admit when I heard the opening of the
song, it had me thinking, “I can’t believe anyone still plays this stuff?!?!”
and my limited capacity pushed me toward turning it off. I didn’t, and here I find myself talking
about an album that could end up as one of my favorites for the year.
Earlier I mentioned
playing from the heart. I don’t know
what it is about Hactivist, but their sincerity comes across in droves through
the seriousness of the music and the lyrics.
Music that should come from the gut needs to hit you in the gut, and Hyperdialect
is series of obliterating, breath-steeling shots. The first thing anyone will notice is that
this album is heavy. Like really fucking
heavy. I’m not sure that any other
extreme band tackling hip hop has made and album this hard. These songs are loaded with stomping
djent-type riffs, deathcore breakdowns and gobs of double kick drum patterns. I find myself comparing some of the guitar
and rhythms to Meshuggah and bands of that sort. These driving and off-time beats make the
bars and vocal stylings of Jermain Hurley and Jot Maxi unique and vicious. You get a variety in the vocals from straight
up MC-ing to metalcore growls and horror rap / grime-influenced delivery.
What’s refreshing is that there is zero singing on this record. No annoying autotuned choruses or any of that
bullshit because Hactivist don’t want you to make you feel good with a melodic
payoff. The use of electronic sounds and
samples underneath the main framework and chaos of each song is abundant and
creative. This is not a band that is
throwing in a DJ to prove their love of hip hop. Hell, I don’t believe there’s a single record
scratch on this whole thing! Giving this
a listen through headphones is highly suggested to catch all the artistic
nuances the band is dropping. Is it
perfect? Well, no. At times it’s hard to differentiate what’s
going on from song to song, but the overall agenda for Hactivist is to cave
some skulls sonically and spit some proactive, socially-mindful lyrics, which
is more than accomplished. Hacktivist
will not be for everybody, but I am highly entertained and impressed by this
band and record It’s one of the most
energetic outings I’ve heard in quite a while.
Hactivist hit the nail on the head of a genre where it is a tough task
to excel.
Listen to "Hyperdialect" here.
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