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Hieronymus Bosch > The Human Abstract > Reviews
Hieronymus Bosch - The Human Abstract

Hieronymus Bosch - The Human Abstract - 100%

chrisc7249, May 31st, 2021

Let’s just get straight to the point - I fucking adore this album. It is one of my favorite technical death metal albums of all time, and probably in my top 20 albums of all time period. I’ve been listening to it regularly since I first heard it about three years back, and it has really aged like a fine wine to these ears.

Hieronymus Bosch was a Russian progressive death metal band formed in the 1990s that blessed this feeble, unworthy human race with this beautiful album before splitting up and not releasing a follow up until a decade later. Russia was already beginning to bustle with progressive and technical death metal, with bands like Graveside and Succubus making their way into the scene, but I personally consider Hieronymus Bosch to be the top dog of the group. Their sound has been mimicked countless times since this album's inception, but no one was truly been able to capture the strange yet endearing sound this album provides.

So, what does it sound like? In 1995, progressive death metal was beginning to gain some traction, but there really wasn't much to listen to outside of the big four or five, unless the band members had their hands on some of the rare demos that preceded this album. So, imagine the ideas from the aforementioned bigger names, just approached from a completely different standpoint.

I'd say this band sounds like Testimony-Spheres era Pestilence with its own oddball quirks added to it. It's not particularly fast or heavy, and instead relies on creating these more mid-paced, bouncy, almost kind of upbeat songs. A lot of the songs on here sound more like something you'd hear on some mystical journey through a planet where ships are flying, plots of land lay suspended in air, and most of the creatures are dragons, orcs and unicorns. It seems like a weird description, but that is genuinely the feel/atmosphere I get out of this album. It's very unearthly. There's a prolific amount of keyboards present on multiple songs, and they're thankfully not corny or detracting from the songs. They actually add to the songs, something that's pretty uncommon for keys in death metal.

What really sets this album apart from its counterparts is just how perfectly structured all the songs are. The different riffs and melodies are sewn together seamlessly, and they never plod along or become boring at any point. Each song is unique, filled with refreshing riffs and quirks that bring out the tracks' true colors. Death metal, especially prog/tech death, suffers from broken song structures more often than not. It's amazing and refreshing to hear a band that understands this and took careful consideration into every song and making sure they were perfectly crafted for the listener.

Back to the upbeat nature of the album, a lot of the music on here sounds almost cartoony and carnival-esque. Take the end of my favorite track "Mental Perfection" for example. The beginning of the last quarter of the track has these weird transitions in and out of guitar effects and creative drum and bass lines. It's so fucking weird and out of place for a death metal record, and I love it so much. These parts are present on all the songs, and it really is a breath of fresh air from all the death metal trying to be dark and edgy.

Finally, what I really appreciate about this album is that the short instrumental interludes are actually interesting. Hallelujah! I can't tell you how many bands add in these stupid, useless, boring interludes in the middle of their albums that serve absolutely no purpose to the actual record. Even the 5 minute instrumental epic is a brilliant song that does just fine without vocals present. Speaking of the vocals, they're pretty low and brutal for tech death of any type from this time, and they don't really fit the music but I enjoy that. It just makes the album weirder to consider this almost joyous progressive music be lathered with these inhuman bear growls.

This album is an absolute must listen for any fan of progressive/technical death metal, whether it be the old school style or the newer style. It's a brilliantly creative album and the metal community should be grateful that this album exists and is available for listening to anyone. Three years after I first heard it, it continues to be an album I constantly revisit and I imagine that will stay true for years to come. I have listened to the next album, and I remember liking it but I really haven't done a deep dive into it as of yet. Why can't more metal albums be like this?

FFO: Pestilence, Neglected Fields, Cynic
Favorite song: Mental Perfection
Final score: 10/10

Weird cover art. Amazing music. - 98%

Cronos12390, December 21st, 2007

It was interesting to hear this album and find a few parallels with French/Canadian tech death bands that came after it like Martyr or Gorod. It's mostly that dissonant jazzy swing a lot of the melodies and rhythm parts possess. I can only wonder how influential this album was to the aforementioned bands, or if it's simply coincidence.

The riffs are complex, to be sure, as are the structures, yet not so that the music is indecipherable and unmemorable, the way progressive music should be. Harmonies come out of absolutely nowhere. The time signature will change without you even noticing. The songs flow completely naturally that way. The only time I've seen this sort of thing done as well is when I listen to Atheist.

The guitars are the primary focus of this album, which I see as a good thing. The riffs have an okay punch to them, and the leads are quite mesmerizing, especially those harmonized parts. The drums I can hardly hear in the mix, but I've never liked drums too much so I see this too as a good thing. The bass is somewhat prominent if you really listen, and it plays very nice, jazzy runs that compliment the guitars perfectly. Gorbenko, the vocalist, has a voice somewhat akin to Guillame from Gorod, only Gorbenko is less guttural. His voice also has a reverb that brings to mind Demilich with that damp sound. Thankfully, he doesn't try to put a thousand words at once into his performance (As a lot of prog/tech bands do) and wind up overpowering everything.

I'm amazed I've never heard of this album before and that no one has reviewed it yet, as it is one of the best progressive death metal albums I've ever heard.