Review of So Hideous, My Love - To Clasp A Fallen Wish With Broken Fingers EP

Everything about this band and release initially screams utter pretentiousness; the moniker, the EP title, the artwork, the song titles, the horn rimmed glasses and hipster looks and the limited vinyl only release — though a mp3 download code is included. None the less, contained withing this 16-minute little gem could be the start of something special.

Many will try to lump So Hideous, My Love  in with the band’s home state New York post black metal scene, and I can certainly see why and how. Personally, what I here hear is a band akin to The Pax Cecilia; a heavily orchestrated form of jangly, fierce metalcore with experimental and emotional black metal leanings (read Wolves in the Throne Room maybe).

Featuring heavily used synths that imbue MONO‘s classical strings , feral screams, shrill, tremolo picked riffs and and a swirling, busy and epic sense of dramatic prose (think Shai Hulud), the three songs and one interlude that fill this EP can often be awe inspiring, but also a bit overwhelming and certainly hard to classify.

Opener ‘Handprints on Glass” sets the tone with a slow classical build (yeah, that sounds like MONO alright) and a steady, building post rock gait, that seems to be some sort of unfinished intro rather than a full track.  But rather than explode in an another real track, interlude “Prelude In G Sharp Minor” sort of halts any potential momentum. It’s clear that the EP’s last two track are obviously the focal points of To Clasp A Fallen Wish With Broken Fingers; “However Boldly Their Warm Blood Split” and especially the title track.

My only real gripe is that all the tracks, no matter how epic or engaging they can be,  seem to come across as intros or teasers to much larger, unfinished pieces. There’s so much dramatic, tense build up, but no real release or climax–but by god–there is some potential here and I’m very interested to see what this band will deliver next.