Hypocrisy never caught my complete attention, musically talking, maybe except for their masterpiece Abducted that featured a violent change of musical direction towards more melodic and weird sounds. That change anyway passed also through another album, this The Fourth Dimension that opened the gates of a more mature sound for them. The violence of the early years and albums was still present but this album featured also more mature and technical compositions.
Another change we can see is the one that happened behind the microphone. Magnus "Masse" Bromberg has been “replaced” by the real mastermind here, Peter Tagtgren that at first was playing the guitars only. This is I think the most important change ever by this band. This guy, initially heavily influenced by the american brutal death metal, had the chance to mature and fill the sound with new elements from his mind and intelligence. It was like everything had to be redone, re-played and reconstructed once again.
The cold brutality of the past efforts this time has been filtrated through another kind of obscurity and coldness. If the one at the beginning was pure Satanic and violent, this time the futurism, the Sci-Fi themes were the most important thing. So, we begin with the strangely mid-paced “Apocalypse” that shows weird keyboards passages and good, melodic lead guitars lines under a suffered growl that sometimes turns also in screams. Peter has grown a lot technically and he could do anything in creative field for his new creature, his new Hypocrisy.
The production this time is more “full” and the guitars are never full of that sick distortion like in the past. This time, they are more simply and more powerful in sounds while we go on meeting the great tempo changes of “Mind Corruption” and the apocalyptic atmospheres of “Reincarnation”. The growls are truly powerful and the melodies are always the important thing. These songs are really astonishing for their musical burden of darkness, sorrow and somehow something artificial and scientific. More than once I felt to be in a mysterious area where weird experiments are occulted to the common people.
“Reborn” and “Orgy In Blood” are just the two of the most representative examples of the most violent death metal band’s side. Anyway, also during these parts the way of playing and the more “controlled” fury help in creating more mature and less chaotic compositions. In these cases the tremolo picking is the most utilized technique while during the other, more melodic, songs the open chords long noted are required to give the right atmosphere. Anyway, it is good to notice that also during the fastest compositions they never abandoned that burden of darkness and occultism.
“Black Forest” is shocking for the number of tempo changes inside it and they lead also to complete changes of atmosphere. For example, check the mid-paced beginning that turns to galloping riffs in the middle and flows directly into a kind of obscure and sad black metal part by the end. Unbelievable. Sometimes, during the path to the Fourth Dimension we can meet also whispered vocals, melodic solos and melodic death metal parts. I believe that this album is the most representative for the growing melodic death metal scene, and not Heartwork like many say.
This album is the classic example of unexpected, surprising, astonishing and unpredictable musical change by a band. When you leave the band to someone competent this is what you get. A great album. Actually, the new efforts by this band are a bit beyond for me and too strange for my tastes but if you want to enjoy the Hypocrisy’s essence, take this one and Abducted. The previous albums were Okay but with these two the things got really yummy.
