Hey Colossus - The Guillotine

Heavy metal is more often than not renamed heavy psych in these modern times but whatever you would like to call the previous incarnations of Hey Colossus, they have been one of the finest of these loud, nasty, heavy bands that take three guitars and slam layer upon layer around steady crunching riffs with sometimes screaming other times just ominous vocals in more creative directions than any band I can think of.

I first heard of this band back in 2015 with Radio Static High and considered them one of those best of breed rock and roll bands along the lines of Parquet Courts and Ought that take their particular genre in the most creative routes possible.

They just do it better than everybody else. Even on their odds and sods collection of tracks just a few months ago, that stretched across their entire career, the music was amazingly well crafted metal that probably showcased their ability to jam better than their individual albums, but also showed just the different varieties of execution this band can take their sound.

But true artists never seem to settle and The Guillotine shows how Hey Colossus can stretch and bend their heavy psych sound into more deliberate and atmospheric directions. This album sounds more like Sonic Youth at its finest than Danzig or some other screeching metal band.

‘Honest To God’ starts everything off with a reverberating, plodding atmospheric track that does what many of the tracks do: Starts off with a slow burning riff that builds into some loud progressions. The next track, ‘Back in the Room’ showcases just how great they can turn a clever riff into a great song. That track is followed by the brilliantly odd ‘Calenture Boy’ that truly is heavy on this new focus on plodding atmospherics.

‘Englishman’ is my personal favorite as it shows they can funk things up a bit and pull it off.

‘Experts Toll’ and the title track continue this slow burning approach to their song structures on The Guillotine, and while there are only 8 songs total for 42 minutes it shows the band is in fine if not brilliant form.

Hey Colossus is not just one of the finest in their genre but deserve to be considered one of the finest alternative bands out there period. The levels of creativity they bring with each and every album and how they with sometimes subtlety and other times with sheer surprise, take their music in any damn direction they want to, should be good cause to dive into their body of work. Clearly, The Guillotine is one of the finest albums released in 2017.