Hemotoxin - When Time Becomes Loss

Angry Metal Guy

Over the course of two prior releases I’ve reviewed, Pittsburgh’s Hemotoxin has failed to truly wow me. Their idiosyncratic brand of deathy, thrashy metal stretches slightly towards progressive ground, but they also demonstrate an admirable willingness to eschew any bloat across their tight releases. Despite these strengths, frantic songwriting and an arguable lack of focus have hamstrung their memorability and consigned them to “probably cool live but no point to return” territory. 2024 sees their return and I was cautiously optimistic to hear whether When Time Becomes Loss would be the record to elevate their discography.

Pick any 30-second excerpt from When Time. What you’re likely to hear is a lightning-quick and surprisingly intricate guitar lead, wretched vocals, and grinding, old-school production. The album largely comprises thrash metal closest to the Teutonic style than anything else due to its raw, murky aesthetic and blackened fringes. Hemotoxin prize their primal energy, but they’re not mindless. The fiddly leads and blistering pace belie true instrumental talent and an ear for something more than mere savagery for its own sake. Their songs are punchy in both length and visceral impact, resulting in an overall sound that pleases me; from the mucky bass and drums to the wailing guitar shred to the kinetic songwriting. These elements fuse into music with a potent and immediate effect. You click play and it will blow you back with sheer speed and power.

Sadly, that initial impact is most of what Hemotoxin have to offer. What remains after listening for more than a few minutes just isn’t especially memorable. The core guitar loop on most tracks are solid but not outstanding, and certainly don’t demand immediate repetition. By “Malediction”, just 3 tracks into When Time, the songs predictably follow similar types of guitar leads and solos. Those leads and solos taken in isolation are fast and frantic, arguably wanky in places, but fail to sink their hooks. It’s an album that improves with interrupted listening as that enables its listener to re-experience its initial impact over again. But protracted and unbroken listening sessions ultimately result in an album that blurs considerably over its mere 29-minute runtime. By “Abstract Commands” following “Malediction,” my mind is typically glazed over.

Fortunately for When Time, persisting through to the final three tracks yields better rewards. They’re more deliberate and dynamic, closing the record on a stronger note than it begins. “Conscious Descent” boldly opens with a surprisingly pretty, articulate acoustic palate cleanser, before progressing through cleaner leads and solos that actually sound distinct. Likewise, the closing title track evolves through its passages more subtly than elsewhere, and layers an acoustic and electric guitar for an effective finale. The first half of “Reborn in Tragedy” also loops its leads for a little longer, resulting in hooks that sink deeper. It demonstrates that more repetition might work in Hemotoxin’s favor; the remaining tracks chop and change so frequently that it’s hard to become familiar with them.

I can’t criticize Hemotoxin’s earnest and savage take on thrash metal. They’re the real deal for fast, heavy material which will undoubtedly please some. But there’s too little here that constitutes great, or even good, listening. It’s a shame when you encounter records with 50 minutes of great music spread across 70 minutes of bloat. When Time featuring just 14 minutes of stronger material across its 29 minutes just isn’t good enough to sustain a real recommendation. This release still isn’t the one I want to hear from Hemotoxin.



Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Pulverised Records
Websites: facebook.com/hemotoxin | hemotoxin.bandcamp.com
Releases Worldwide: May 19th, 2024

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