Hell Is Other People has evolved.
The band had been quiet for some years, but 2024, the year they signed to Transcending Obscurity Records, marks the release of their second album, Moirae, for Nathan Boots (guitar), Nicholas Luck (guitar, Æpoch, Skyless Aeons, Sentiment Dissolve), Nathan Ferreira (bass/vocals, Skyless Aeons, Sentiment Dissolve) and James Ditty (drums).
The album opens with a long instrumental section of the eponymous track Moirae, where the musicians develop a very airy, melancholy approach. Hazy vocal parts’ arrival reinforces the oppression of the heavy, irregular rhythm despite its heady dissonance, while Fates often offers us bursts of energy in its apathy. We also have a certain depth to the gripping howls, which fit in perfectly with the dark atmosphere, from which emerge piercing leads that create a new sense of unease before giving way to the silence that begins on Degrade, quickly broken by a few soft vaporous notes. The quietude lasts until it’s disturbed by an ominous saturation, then by the pain of screams and the slow but suffocating instrumental that lets the intensity rise imperceptibly before suddenly fading away to Loss, where the sound is already much more virulent. The contrast with the melodies is much more gripping, building on real roars of hatred and despair to finally lead us to the chaos of Atropos, the long final composition where the musicians retain their fury to create waves of scathing violence, interspersed with more soaring moments where DSBM influences are exploited to fuel distress until release.
Only five tracks on this new album, but Hell Is Other People manages to captivate us with its ocean of icy melancholy. Moirae is a gripping album that suffers no break, and can be savored like a painful memory.
95/100