Hollow Corp. - Cloister of Radiance

[circus_brimstone]

Hollow Corp. – Cloister of Radiance
Prosthetic Records – 6561910063-2 – 30 September 2008
By Jason Jordan

A good example of post-metal is what we have from France’s Hollow Corp. Cloister of Radiance was originally released in 2007, but Prosthetic chose to release it a year later in the North American market. It’s true that HC echo diverse bands such as Burst, Mastodon, The Ocean, and a host of Neur-Isis-core troupes all within the span of an hour, but luckily don’t mirror any of them too closely.

‘Elevation’ sets the tone like an opener should, delivering tumultuous heavy-handed riffs, Burst-like melody lines, and rocky upfront growls. I’m not a fan of Azam’s singing—especially during finale ‘Thujon’—because it’s average at best. As mentioned above, numerous tracks bring other bands to mind immediately—a trait that is both a blessing and a curse. For example, the opening of ‘Code’ could pass for Mastodon, while ‘Sabbat’ parallels Opeth, and there’s no shortage of Neur-Isis-esque, instrumental drifting in ‘Peripherals’ and ‘Opium’. Thus, I think it’s fair to say that Hollow Corp. wear their influences on their sleeve, but at the same time, not necessarily to a detrimental degree if innovation isn’t of the utmost concern.

Cloister of Radiance is solid—nothing more and nothing less—but Prosthetic have admittedly released superior records this year. This isn’t bad, though.

Official Hollow Corp. Website
Official Hollow Corp. MySpace
Official Prosthetic Records Website

 

[maxVPL]

but Prosthetic have admittedly released superior records this year.

Just curious what your favorite Prosthetic releases of 08 were - if you don't mind saying!

 

[circus_brimstone]

Just curious what your favorite Prosthetic releases of 08 were - if you don't mind saying!

Sure thing. I think that Gojira's The Way of All Flesh is my favorite. Century's Black Ocean is good, too. A lot of people would mention Neuraxis's The Thin Line Between and Withered's Folie Circulaire as well, but I haven't listened to either enough to make judgment calls on those. All those bands have samples on MySpace, so finding them is easy.

 

[Statue of Timi]

I have to agree that Prosthetic is putting out a great amount of quality music these days. In the last year alone they've released Skeletonwitch, Byzantine, Hollow Corp., Gojira, Book of Black Earth, and Century. That's just to name a few of my favorite releases to date.

I'll be curious to see if they can continue this level of quality output in the coming years, but for the meantime, I'm pretty damn happy.

Pulverised Records is putting out some intense stuff as well. Keep an eye out for that label.