So Hideous, My Love…

So Hideous, My Love... are the most interesting and original heavy band you'll hear in a while. An experiment in post-rock orchestral metal, So Hideous, My Love… is the brainchild of NYC duo Brandon Cruz and Jack Marshall. With their second EP, they produce an absolutely stunning work of dramatic emotion. So Hideous, My Love… are clearly aiming for something more melancholic, emotionally fraught and grounded in a tradition that bridges classical composition, post-rock and black metal ― imagine Beethoven jamming with Godspeed You Black Emperor! and Suicide Silence. The band perfectly fuse a classical string section with frantic guitar riffs that constantly build towards ever-expanding explosions of sound. What So Hideous, My Love… successfully achieve is a sound that can only be described as sublime, in the truest sense of the word, both beautiful and terrifying. Through four short tracks (one of which is an actual symphonic prelude) and just over 15 minutes, they explore the most torturous emotions in a supernova of tragic, steam-of-consciousness screaming and dramatic, spiralling guitar riffs. The record constantly vacillates between rage and helplessness, the EP's four tracks forming one long mood, each representing a movement in the larger project. While this is an excellent musical experiment in pushing boundaries and creating new vistas for heavy music to aspire to, we'll have to wait and see if So Hideous, My Love… can reach the same heights with a full-length.