ALTERNATE TIMELINES

HILLWARD is the Canadian side project of progressive metal group SOUTHERN CROSS, starting their career in 2015, adding musical themes from melodic prog to the first group. I associate them with OSI, Tesseract, Tool, Pain of Salvation, Leprous, Haken, Porcupine Tree see Dream Theater. The prominent place of spatial keyboards and catchy djent riffs give the signature as well as attractive melancholic breaks; the intensity often increases and explodes musically in an orgasmic way.

"Fire and Brimstone" with an aerial spatial entry followed by the sound that will be that of the album: a distant synth printing the rhythm, an aggressive guitar with a djent riff and a metronomic drums all sprinkled with the plaintive voice of David; its catchy, nervous then synthetic modern break on Teramaze, Tesseract or Haken. "Vapor Trails" on an intro with Antoine's percussions, a soft, ambient track which rises, throbbing, hypnotic and atmospheric, a distortion in space and metronomic time. "Deafen the Void" returns to the djent sound of the beginning, it arises with a melodious synth giving in the vibration; a repetitive riff then the enjoyable jerky, divine solo. "Waiting" denotes with Jean-François bass as a guide for a title going from slow melodic to strong and intense rhythm; progressive hard track with a crystalline end.

"A" hypnotic title where the melody is in order, more meditative pop; Alexandre's solo is worth the trip, fruity, full, meeting between Gilmour and Townsend and this sound leaves in a mishmash of notes to reverse the curvature of time. "Broadcast Interruption" like the musical interlude, spleen, intimate air, encounter between voice, piano, lament on cello, beauty of the moment. "Amidst the Sun and Stars" resumes with this thunderous sound, coming out of a 320 volt outlet; the air settles with airy keyboards, the rhythm guitar then the combination of the two soporific, numbing. "Tainted Eyes" and the title that kills: everything is concentrated and well placed; it rises calmly, the soft voice a little opposite to the instruments; the metallic station wagon, Alexandre's guitar take over starting on an aerial dreamlike sequence remember that I warned you, then a cinema sound, from the vintage basic synth coupled to André-Philippe's modern keyboard make this end piece a strong hymn that forces you to get up and put the replay.

HILLWARD hits hard by offering this boosted opus, avant-garde crossover with keyboards and guitars. Young metal, progressive through the musical drifts, djent through the backbone. I've read that the voice is the weakest link in the band, I don't think so on the contrary David allowing the songs to keep a melodic pop-rock appeal; an album that breaks new ground in this year, that's a plus and it's good. One Progressive Rock/Metal-djent synthétic very well made .