HO99O9 - Tomorrow We Escape

To describe ‘Tomorrow We Escape’ as intense would indeed be a case of stating the bloody obvious, as three albums and countless live victory laps in, HO99O9’s stall - a patchwork of cues taken from across hardcore, punk, industrial, hip hop and just about everywhere else - has been well and truly set, and it’s never not been a vivid one. But this third outing is so impeccably paced, with its twists and turns and frequent 180-degree sonic shifts, that it somehow makes the outfit’s already fiery flame burn yet brighter. Take the dreamy, ‘Space Oddity’-esque ‘Immortal’, where a guest turn from Chelsea Wolfe pits her hypnotically soft vocal alongside a similarly dreamy soundscape: sandwiched between the frequently rapid-fire ‘Tapeworm’ - on which The Dillinger Escape Plan’s Greg Puciato delivers knowingly clichéd lines in such a deadpan manner that it turns from potential pastiche to sincere homage - and ‘LA Riots’, on which the outfit’s riffs are as pointed as their words (“How you gonna take all of us / You know we ain’t giving up”), its silence is amplified. 

Similarly, the daydreamy ‘Psychic Jumper’ follows ‘OK, I’m Reloaded’, on which an industrial beat combines with a messy metallic loop to land somewhere between ‘brat’ in the moshpit and if Sleigh Bells’ abrasive debut had fallen after 100 gecs made their name. The most straight-forward number here is ‘Incline’, on which TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek presents a suitably funky base on which a collection of collaborators – Nova Twins, Pink Siifu, Yung Skrrt – are able to build, the shuffling beat and use of vocal effects leaning daringly close to zeitgeisty. But it’s closer ‘Godflesh’ that crowns ‘Tomorrow We Escape’ in the best way possible; a gargantuan track that’s beat-perfect in its moshpit-friendly dynamism, the push-pull of loud and, well, slightly less loud building to a finale that’s gorgeously chaotic and pure catharsis on record.