review: The Holeum

The Holeum

Sublime Emptiness

August 23rd, 2019

Lifeforce Records

Unless the listener is a huge post-rock/post-metal fanatic, this album will be a contrast from the usual power-chord music. There are moments in which the music sounds familiar, like in overall heaviness of the guitar at some points. However, a large portion of it seems made not to rev up the listener, but rather to make the listener think. What does this band want the listener to think about? Nothingness, emptiness, look at your shoes and stare into the space, the meaning of life, the stars in the sky, the Earth in space, philosophy, and things like that. The Holeum asks not, “Are you ready to rock, Cleveland?!” The Holeum is more like, “Are you ready to think about how black holes supposedly have such gravitational acceleration to deform space-time and not allow even light to escape it, Cleveland?!”

The Holeum is a band from Spain, and this is the follow-up to 2016's debut. You can tell that at least some of the members do like metal in a serious way; that comes across in the music. However, you will not find the usual tropes: violence, murder, assault, “cool” alcoholics, rock stars, devil worshipping, zombies, braggadocio, politics, the environment, the metal lifestyle, relationships, war, partying, and all those things.

The Holeum is a band of adults that seek to make heavy music and want to make it beautiful, and a little bit bizarre, too, but not too much. The album artwork is not anything of the usual topics. Their lyrics are meant to be philosophical. They come don’t across as bragging, posing, brutal and stuff, although the lyrics might seem pretentious. Thus, it’s pretension in a different form by band seeking other ways to do lyrics and image, but they don’t come across as self-important or trying to be cool, either, like some post-metal bands try to do by seeming more profound than other humans by acting like, “I am so much better than you, human, because I, in my so profound being, feel more feelings than you feel, metal fan.”

If you have not given post-metal bands a chance before, or if you want to hear a band that is trying to do metal music in a different way, then this band could be interesting. Maybe the fact that they are not a bunch of twenty-year-olds worried about their public persona or maybe because they (or at least some of them) are in their forties, more or less, the music comes off as less ego-centric, less look-at-me and it’s simply heavy music, from doom sources, and adding the more atmospheric or thoughtful aspects of post-rock/metal.

The music has the heaviness of doom, but they keep it controlled and they are not trying to be heavy for its own sake. They like to keep things heavy but mellow, if that makes sense. They have some sections with space jazz saxophone. They have lots of chill but unmelodic guitar, perfect for shoe gazing or passing out during an afternoon nap on the bus or at the beach or at the neighbor’s barbecue by the pool on a Saturday evening. It’s not “Scream for me, Long Beach!”; it’s more like, “Chill out for me, Long Beach!” is the rallying cry of the post-metal band The Holeum. Sleep well, Cleveland. Sleep well, Alicante. Good night, Spain. Good night, red ballon. Good night, pair of socks. Good night, two kittens. Good night, moon.

theholeum.bandcamp.com