Inevitable

Founded in 2009, with one single and one demo already released, the Portuguese progressive metallers Hourswill have released their debut “Inevitable”, via Ethereal Sound Works.

The intro “The Damnation Clockwork” opens the album with an Arabic scent that will be flooded by screams of death and affliction, followed by “Vows Of Submission” in which Nuno Damião gets inspiration in James LaBrie (Dream Theater) to perform his role. When the vocals are applied in Hourswill’s songs, it sounds like we’re listening to a story due to Nuno’s intonation. Some growls are also included in the record, but I've got the feeling that this feature could be not used since they are so sporadic, in spite of me being a fan of this kind of vocal approach.

Guitar riffs are the best in the album since they’re so well-worked and sometimes presented with shredding technique. Even so, some brief groove metal orientation is noticed in “Vows Of Submission”. Probably, the best riffs I’ve heard in years coming from a Portuguese band. However, that’s a pity that the bass lines aren’t heard like they deserved to be.

The fifth “Lessons Unlearned” is a moment of introspection which starts off with a Hitler’s speech extract that explodes into successive heils. And already after the musical burst which recalls Opeth somewhere between 2000 and 2005, we’ll listen to another speech extract, this time delivered by Roosevelt. With this beginning, it’s already seen that Hourswill picked up a Historic theme that will never be forgotten in which they retract the madness and dehumanization propelled by the World War II. The theme’s nature makes this track the most dark and heavily linger one in the entire album.

In the end, I feel that this debut is a nice surprise for the Portuguese scene and I also think that Hourswill have everything that’s needed to cross borders in the future. Let’s wait for the next record…

Originally written at www.againstmagazine.com