Album Review

Hydrogyn – Deadly Passions

• 9th Jul 2008

Some of the best vocal performances are not necessarily perfect, some are just raw-feeling as thought at any moment they could fall apart or implode.

That feeling of anything could happen simply isn’t there with Hydrogen-by no stretch of the imagination is it bad-it’s just we’ve had or imaginations broadened and this doesn’t excite.

One of the key moments is the poorly chosen cover of Morissette’s ’You oughta know’- misplaced and errant here, as the music surrounding it points to better things, and this runs squarely away from Hydrogyn’s style direction and into the open arms of songs practiced because they have a female voice; and included as a base with which the listener is meant to access the album.

Its chainsaws cutting through chainsaws with most of the guitars however-personified with ‘Seroquil’, which savages a standard riff into something…no, no you just can’t get away from the voice. It’s not that it takes anything away, it just doesn’t add anything, as though all the musicians are fighting for a common ground; now conflict in musicians can be great-but who the hell wants to listen to the common ground?

There needs to be a collective thought here, and possibly this may lie in the writing, ‘Shadow’ really ditches the talk and gets completely involved, when the static’s removed it works unabated; but it’s really only 2-3 songs from a line up of 10. Would you put up with a car that works two days of the week and not the rest?-whilst a cover song is being ruined as your desperately try to figure what’s wrong with the engine?