Hangman's Park - Eleven Review

When you think you had your share of the weird and poor produced there comes a band as Hangman’s Park with an album as “Eleven” to which the word uncanny can’t tell everything. Just go right away to listen to two tracks in a role “Trance” and “Maw of Tarrare” but, please listen to them in a role. Fun fact is that the album starts almost standard. The only thing that stands out is the poor production. I mean, not exactly poor production in the exact sense, but an album that maybe, just maybe was recorded with opaque instrumentals and some out of tune passages on purpose. That’s what it seems when one listens to all the album and pay close attention to the instrumentals. Moreover, to the musicianship of the band. One more album where the musicanship is bigger than the production.

As aforementioned “Eleven” is kicked off with “Joy” a track whose catchy, though opaque, guitar riffing is the lead. At first, the drumming would sound a bit off, however, and this is where Hangman’s Park show all their musicianship with out of the ordinary tempos. The drums here do much more than just giving the pace or counting tempo. It goes beyond. Vocals are a bit strange for whom doesn’t have this kind of experience. I mean, to whom doesn’t know bands that ‘play’ with their instruments and go beyond what is expected from them. Hangman’s Park have the ability of joining experimental tracks that at the same time are incredibly accessible. Not an easy task if I may. The album is full of out of Metal influences as Jazz, the most noticeable one. Extreme Metal is getting more and more eclectic, if you know what I mean. Ok, until a small but noticiable part of second track “Strife” things go smoothly and without surprise. I mentioned a part because there is a hidden weird yell in the fourth minute of the song. Things begin to get a little out of the ordinary with the third and fourth tracks “Rage” and “Dismal Nitch” which have some out of the box tones and instrumentals. Much more “Dismal Nitch” with its out of tune guitar licks and dissonances. From them on the album gets more and more out of the ordinary.

Here we’ve got an album that shows that it’s possible to get as experimental as it is possible and still be accessible. Great musicianship with poor production though I think it’s on purpose. As I said go right to “Trance” and “Maw of Tarrare” to have a perfect glance of what I’m saying.

P.S.: I strongly recommend my dear fan to watch the video bellow. Just a piece, just a piece.

Hangman’s Park “Eleven” was self-released on February 25th.

Track Listing: