As a music writer, I have to listen to a fair bit of music I don’t necessarily like. But I was genuinely excited to happen upon ‘The Alarmist’, the lead single from Danish progressive noise rock trio HIRAKI’s forthcoming second album, ‘Stumbling Through the Walls’. The guitars are furious and the vocals even more so (aptly enough, given that the album is apparently an angry broadside against modern-day society). I don’t like to use hyperbolic terms like ‘blown away’ to describe music, but if I did, I would in this case.
A press release announcing the album says HIRAKI cite contemporary industrial noise rock and experimental metal bands like Daughters and The Body as influences. I can hear the latter band slightly in the white noise that ends the song, but I find the sound of the guitars more comparable with 90s post-hardcore acts like Drive Like Jehu and Unwound, whilst the vocals reminded me of Jeromes Dream. There are some Human Impact-style synths at the start of the song too, but these are thankfully kept sufficiently low down in the mix so as not to overpower the guitars.
It all bodes very well for ‘Stumbling Through the Walls’, which is released through Nefarious Industries on April 9th. Pre-order it here. Additionally, you can download HIRAKI’s excellent debut album, ‘Modern Genes’, here.
