If you’re a freak like me then you must worship at the alter of the dark electro project HVRGLOW. The three-piece electronic band released their debut album with Burning Witches Records back in 2018 and it completely blew my damn mind. It was a record filled with humid, slow-churning darkwave cuts that could easily fit on a dancefloor or for descending down Jame Gumb’s murder basement in Silence of the Lambs. This trio created an aesthetic of wet leather, songs for incantations, and deep forest doom. It was hypnotic, idiosyncratic, and filthy in the best way possible.
While the world withered into a swirling Pollack canvas made of blood, tears, and pestilence outside this past year, HVRGLOW member Eric Gorman decided to make the most of his time early in lockdown. He set up an electronic world comprised of synths, cables, guitar pedals, and small mixers in his bedroom and created these on-the-fly live recordings using only the mic on his smartphone. He then would send these recordings to Kyle Mayfield of Outpost 31 Studios to be mastered. The results make up the dark, melancholy, and visceral Cruxible EP, which arrives from Outpost 31 Studios November 6th.
What does Cruxible sound like? It’s a five-track collection of robotic rhythms, shadow-y melodies, and dark intentions. It’s engrossing and locks you into its mechanical world right away. On first single “Treeface”, there’s a real Downward Spiral vibe as Gorman creates a jagged rhythm and shadow-y melodies. He locks into some serious industrial tones, like if Skinny Puppy were tripping on Mollies in an abandoned basement somewhere in the flatlands.
It’s a gorgeous nightmare creation that acts as a proper portal into Cruxible’s aural dreamscape, and an apropos score for the current Hellscape we’re all living in.
Listen to “Treeface” below, and then hit up Outpost 31 Studios this Friday, 11/6, to snag a copy of Cruxible EP.
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