There are two kinds of experimental music: the very experimental which flerts with the boring, and the awesome experimental. The Hirsch Effekt is the second option for our’s sake. The Hirsch Effekt with “Eskapist”is the very right choice for whom thinks there is nothing else to be invented in music. You’re flat wrong, my friend. Mixing a lot of already invented things is one of them. Exactly what The Hirsch Effekt with “Eskapist”do. The Hirsch Effekt with “Eskapist” is the most avant-garde effort I’ve heard for a long time.
To say that The Hirsch Effekt with Eskapist is a complex effort is to go back and forth. “Eskapist” is much more than the naked ears can notice. It’s not only mixing different techniques, it’s also introducing unusual instruments to the metal world, as the flute in “Xenophotopia.” Moreover, it’s beginning with songs like “Lifnej,” which has kind of industrial and modern touch, but faster, going through songs like “Natans,” which seems to come from an Yes album. “Eskapist” is an album with many sonic textures. “Eskapist” is the diverse. One will never know what’s coming next due the different techniques and styles The Hirsch Effekt impose. But there’s one thing that passes through all album, and that is the modern atmosphere. All songs, besides all the experimental stuff, have a modern feeling.
“Eskapist” is not an easy album to listen to. I’d say that for most it’s untasteful. That happens because The Hirsch Effekt prefer to avoid common places. Some songs evolve into a cadence that one may think will be go one way, but hits another. Some melodic series seem to go common, but they don’t. That’s what makes The Hirsch Effekt experimental. Exactly the same that makes it genius. Some songs are completely weird like “Aldebaran,” with its mix of punk and funk and the unended fast guitar phrases, which give the sick feeling. Even the most melodic song like “Inukshuk” sound different, unusual.
The Hirsch Effekt chose short, sharp and sometimes groovy guitar riffs. The intent was to sound the sickiest. And that The Hirsch Effekt accomplished for sure. “Eskapist” is also the sickiest album I’ve heard recently. “Lysios” is the best example of all that sickness with even a rhythm section. The effect is the weirdest possible. The Hirsch Effekt are also a good band to work with dissonances. “Lysios” is full of them. Some may think there’s a herd of elefants pursuing you because of the effect of the saxophones.
The Hirsch Effekt seems to be the weird and sick mix of Gentle Giant and Red Hot Chilly Peppers. Very cool if you are in the mood for something very different, but competent. Indeed, it was a unique experience.
Track Listing:
- Lifnej
- Xenophotopia
- Natans
- Coda
- Berceuse
- Tardigrada
- Nocturne
- Aldebaran
- Inukshuk
- Autio
- Lysios
- Acharej
Watch “Lifnej” official video here:
I’m just a lucky guy who has chosen metal to live with for a long time. Metal changed my life for good. It made me more confident and stronger. Metalheads are naturally far away from the mass mediocrity and don’t accept impostures from anybody else. Metal is more than music, it’s a life changing oportunity!