Hypocrisy – Hypocrisy

28 November 2023

I bought this album the year it was released. It’s been a habit of mine for years. If I go to another city and there is a place that sells heavy metal albums, I definitely stop by and buy a few albums. Therefore, I make a connection between that album and my travel.

As someone who knew Hypocrisy before this self-titled album, especially the Osculum Obscenum album and majority of songs of other albums, I heard that they had done something different in their previous album The Final Chapter, but I could not find the opportunity to acquire that album. You know, streaming was not yet available. This was actually why I jumped at Hypocrisy as soon as I saw it on a music shop.

By the time Hypocrisy was released, Peter had already made a name for himself as a sound engineer, but his list of recorded albums had not yet become as long as it is now. There was a time, I found the similar sound (especially drums) that I have encountered in tons of albums recorded at Abyss studios or mixed/mastered by Peter “out of the same mold”. In general, I think he prefers a harsh but sometimes a little too refined sound. However, I can say that everything is in place in this album.

Coming back to the album, we see that Tägtgren, who is a surely a very good instrumentalist, prefered an extensive use of keyboards in the album. The keyboard did not get in the way of the music, on the contrary, it created a basis on which other instruments could move freely. Peter chose not to bury the bass guitar into the music, which stands out as an important factor that increases the impact of the album.

Although the album received positive reviews, mainly not considered one of the band’s outstanding works. I think it is not fair. Considering criteria such as development, renewal, and creativity, to me, Hypocrisy is the band’s peak album. We see that the increasing dose of experimentation in the following years led to a strange album like Catch 22.

One of the most important features of the album is its atmosphere. Likewise, the album cover offers an image matching the music. Peter used plenty of clean vocals in this album and of course did not give up on scream vocals. By the way, although we always mention Peter’s name, drummer Lars Szöke and our old friend bass guitarist Mikael Hedlund are also very good musicians. The band have created an album that is incredibly melodic and metal, without getting stuck in the quagmire that many of today’s melodic death metal bands get stuck in.

If I’m to decipher the album track by track, I can say that it is a full album that does not contain any fillers. For those who haven’t listened to the album, as a start, you can check out the introductory track, Fractured Millennium (the bass is really mind-blowing in this track), Reversed Reflections, which has a section that is incredibly reminiscent of Maiden’s Wasted Years towards the end, a very fast song Time Warp, the delightful atmospheric tracks Until The End and Paled Empty Sphere. Before I forget, let me also say that there is another sledgehammer-like song called Self Inflicted Overload in the digipack version of the album.

As can be clearly understood, I love this album very much. It has a strange atmosphere that is both relaxing and exhilarating. It is one of the albums that left an impact on me and I consider myself lucky to have witnessed. I strongly recommend this album to those who want melodic, soulful, atmospheric heavy music.

9,5/10

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