Hiss From The Moat/The Way Out Of Hell/Distortion Music Group/2022 Full Length Review

 

  Italy's  Hiss  From  The  Moat  have  returned  with  a  new  recording  which  shows  the  music  going  for  a  brutal  style  of  blackened  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2022  album  "The  Way  Out  Of  Hell"  which  was  released  by  Distortion  Music  Group.

 A  very  distorted  sound  starts  off  the  album  before  going  into  a  very  fast  and  brutal  direction  which  also  utilizes  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats.  Vocals  are  a  mixture  of  death  metal  growls  and  black  metal  screams  along  with  some  melodies  also  being  added  into  some  of  the  guitar  riffing  at  times.

  Tremolo  picking  can  also  be  heard  in  some  of  the  faster  riffing  while  the  songs  also  add  in  a  decent  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts.  When  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  also  done  in  a  very  melodic  style  along  with  some  of  the  mid  tempo  sections  also  adding  in  touches  of  a  more mainstream  metal  style  as  well  as  some  songs  also  adding  in  some  aggressive  shouts  and  the  whole  album  sticks  to  a  very  heavy  and  brutal  direction,  all  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  also  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

  On  this  recording  Hiss  From  The  Moat  takes  the  blackened  style  of  death  metal  into  more  of  a  brutal  direction.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  Anti  Christianity,  Death  and  hatred  themes.  

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  album  from  Hiss  From  The  Moat  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  blackened  death  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  recording.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  Way  Out  Of  Hell"  "Generation  Of  Cowardice"  "All  I  Have"  and  "The  Magnificent  Vision".  8  out  of  10.

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Hiss From The Moat Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording and release of the new album?
Since the recording of the album we mostly worked on creating content for the release like the lyric video, playthrough video and the official video clip that we released a few days ago for 'The Passage To Hell'. The album has been released 3 days ago and we are now in the process of looking to go on the road to support the release.

2.Recently you have released a new album, musically how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?
I would say that 'The Harrier' is like an evolution of Misanthropy. Even though the songwriting we used for this album was very different, we managed to keep our sound, brutality and speed but we also experimented a little bit trying to add some new elements. For example, we added percussions and some effects in the background that created like a horror/ambient sound surrounding the instruments and things like that, that definitely make this album sound much 'bigger' compared to Misanthropy. 

3.This is your first full length since 2013, can you tell us a little bit more about what has been going on during that time frame?
Yeah, we released Misanthropy but then some of the members of the band got involved in other projects at the time and slowed down the band: I joined Hour Of Penance and Vital Remains after, Carlo joined Tasters etc... and at one point we all felt like we wanted to go back and focus on writing our own music, and so we did and we did The Harrier.

4.Your earlier material was more deathcore influenced while the last 2 albums have been in a more blackened death metal style, what was the decision behind going into this musical direction?
We don't think of what kind of music we want to represent, we think of the music that represent us in the moment we are writing and we put what we have to say into lyrics, guitar riffs and rhythmical parts and what comes out is what we feel. I never liked to categorize art into many different names, it's just art, it's just what comes out when a band express itself. We don't think at 30 in the same way we thought when we were 15, it's just part of the growth.

5.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band has explored over the years with their music?
The lyrics in the album basically compare some sacred texts to political ideas that we had in our history and shows how these religions were and are based on fear, just as some political ideas such as Nazism, by literally copying extracts of these and putting them in our lyrics. The purpose is to put all these forms of mass control into a perspective to people to make them realize that what we've been taught right and wrong are actually based on the same ideas. We do not support any religion or political idea based on fear, of course, our intent is to make people aware of what's in those books and once they know it, it'll be their responsibility to react to it.

6.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Hiss From The Moat'?
There is no meaning behind the name, the inspiration came more from like a vibe, like if when you hear the name it puts you a certain image in your head. That's how we kind of came up with the name years ago. I wonder if our name is stranger than KISS, since the band's look...?

7.Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the new album cover/
The album cover is composed by 3 main elements: The head of the statue, which stands as the population, cold and blind, a mask on top of it, that represents all these forms of control that covers people's eyes, puts gates to shut people's mouth etc... and the alchemical circle that has the meaning of growing through self evolution, so to work and evolve within ourselves, so to grow to become a better human rather than believe and follow other things thinking that we are already at our best.

8.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?
Well, the lineup that we have now is by far the best lineup we ever had, and we haven't played shows yet, so the best shows still have to come. But I would say that the shows that we played in South East Asia in 2017 have been the best we ever did so far. We have created a stage performance that is not only musical, but has also a lighting system so to have an impact both visually and auditive, to be a more complete experience to whoever comes and see us live.

9.Do you have any touring or show plans for the new album?
We are working on it right now, but we don't have any yet.

10.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your newer music by fans of black and death metal?
So far we mainly got very positive feedback to be honest, even though our main focus is to make something that we are proud of and that we like, we never write music so that people could like it, so if other people like what we are do we are just super stoked about it!

11.Are any of the band members currently involved with any other bands or musical projects these days?
Max, our singer/guitar player, has his own project Helion and plays in another band called Integral, on top of that he teaches classical guitar in music schools. I have my own instructional website and am a drum teacher myself. Carlo has his own recording studio, the Obscure Country, and Jack is also a guitar teacher.

12.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
Wherever our thoughts and feelings will take it, until they respect what Hiss From The Moat is artistically.

13.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your newer music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
We had a few different musical influences, in different parts of the songwriting, but we didn't really focus on other band's music to create ours, we just tried to understand how we wanted to express what we wanted to say with our music. Nowadays, honestly, I am mostly listening to David Bowie and some old Marilyn Manson stuff, but it changes everyday, I am kind of moody with music, based on how I feel, there's music I want to listen to.

14.What are some of your non musical interests?
Me and Jack support Liverpool. Other than that, we are all mainly passionate about music and art, we don't have much time for anything else at the moment in our lives. We survive and create music.

15.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts? 
Yes, I want to thank you guys for being interested in what we are doing and dedicating some of your time to us. It is important for us to let people know what we are about and guys like you helps us out a lot, then it's our responsibility to create something powerful enough to make people stay, but we appreciate the help.

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Hiss From The Moat/The Harrier/M-Theory Audio/2019 CD Review

  Hiss  From  The  Moat  are  a  band  from  Italy  that  has  had  music  reviewed  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  very  technical  form  of  blackened  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review of  their  2019  album  "The  Harrier"  which  will  be  released  on  February  22nd  by  M-Theory  Audio.

  A  very  dark  sounding  intro  starts  off  the  album  before going  into  a  heavier  musical  direction.  When  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  brutal  sounding  blast  beats  can  also  be  heard  while  the  riffs  also  add  in  a  great  amount  of  melody.  Vocals also  bring  in  more  of  a  blackened  metal  style.

  A  great  amount  of  death  metal  elements  can  also  be  heard  throughout  all  of  the  tracks  while  the  music  also  gets  very  technical  sounding  at  times.  The  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  along  with  the  solos  and  leads  being  done  in  a  very  melodic  style.

  All  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  while  atmospheric  soundscapes  can  also  be heard  briefly.  A  couple  of  tracks  also  adds  in  a  brief  use  of  clean  playing  and  acoustic  guitars  before  returning  back  to  a  more  brutal  direction.  The  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover religion,  politics  and  dictatorship  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Hiss  From  The  Moat  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  technical  blackened  death  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  Harrier"  "Slaves  To  War"  "The  Allegory  Of  Upheaval"  and  "The  Decay  Of  Lies".  8  out  of  10.

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Hiss From The Moat/Misanthropy/Nuclear Blast Records/2013 CD Review

  Hiss  From  The  Moat  are  a  band  from  Italy  that  plays  a  very  blackened  form  of  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2013  album  "Misanthropy"  which  was  released  by  Nuclear  Blast  Records.

  The  album  starts  out  with  an  intro  which  uses  sound  effects  and  avant  garde  elements  along  with  acoustic  guitars  which  bring  in  ethnic  influences  as  well  as  grim  vocals  in the  background  and  after the  intro  they  music  goes  into  a  brutal  blackened  death  metal  along  with  blast  beats  and  growls  as  well  as  a  mixture  of  slow  and  fast  parts  which  also  leads  to  black  metal  screams  and  melody.

  As  the  album  continues  the  music  continues  its  brutal  mixture  of  black  and  death  metal  along  with  some  more  modern  extreme  metal  influences  as  well  as  bringing  in  melodic  and  technical  sounding  guitar  leads  and  solos  and  on  one  song  they  mix  in  a  brief  use  of  epic  and  symphonic  elements  on  a  couple  of  songs  but  remain  brutal  all  at  the  same  time  and  on  a  couple  of  other  songs  they  bring  in  a  small  amount  of  spoken  word  parts  which  bring  a  ritualistic  feeling  to  the  recording.  

  On  this  album  Hiss  From  The  Moat  seem  to  have  a  very  perfect  mixture  for  their  music  while  the  song  is  half  black  and  death  metal  they  also  update  it  for  2013  and  also  use  a  decent  amount  of  melody  in  their  music  and  while  I  have  seen  this  band  being  labeled  as  deathcore  I  feel  that  is  very  misleading  and  the  music  is  pure  black/death  metal.

  Song  lyrics  cover  misanthropic  and  anti  christian  themes,  while  the  production  has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy,  brutal  and  professional  sound  along  with  the  bass  guitars  being  mixed  down  low  in  the  mix.

   In  my  opinion  Hiss  From  the  Moat  are  a  very  great  sounding  blackened  death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Conquering  Christianity"  "Misanthropy"  and  "The  Descent  From  The  throne".  8  out  of  10.

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