HOPE DRONE - Void Lustre 2LP

Australian death metal may be a hot topic right now, but the Oceanian continent has yet to see many black metal bands crawl up from out of the underworld. Brisbane's Hope Drone is in a position to change that status with its distinctive blend of dense atmospheres and withering, spacious blackness. Formed in 2011 by guitarists Karl Hartwig and Christopher Rowden, drummer Francis Kell, and bassist Aaron "Peege" Pickersgill, the band burst onto the scene with its 2013 self-titled EP, which was hailed by Cvlt Nation as "fresh, invigorating, and compelling" and called "possibly the most devastatingly nihilistic recording I've ever heard" by Angry Metal Guy. After supporting acts like Neurosis, Deafheaven, Caspian, and Rosetta in Australia, Hope Drone recorded its sophomore record on Relapse records. For their third album "Void Lustre", the quartet took a little more time. The five songs consistently continue the band's path. Nothing is rushed here. Slowly and deliberately, atmosphere and tension build up and then end in a blastbeat thunderstorm. The sound is not strictly bound to (black metal) conventions and oscillates between ambient, post-rock, drone and post-hardcore and sludge elements. "Void Lustre" is not a blind rage, but a thoroughly breathtaking and intense album. For fans of Deafheaven, Wolves In The Throne Room, Altar Of Plagues and Downfall Of Gaia.