This young Belgian band has recently been making a name for themselves. This is their third release and finally they have established their sound and now sound like a well-oiled machine. Not that their previous releases are bad – they are also really good - it’s just that “The Hutch” is so much better than “When the Candle Dies Out” and “All is Chaos”.
Their sound has pinches of sludge, stoner, hardcore and metal. Many people compare them with their label mates Cult of Luna but I would say they have more to their sound than that. They sometimes remind me of Cult of Luna, other times they resemble Deftones and Mastodon. I know it is a weird mix but the final result sure sounds good!
“The Hutch” is a long album. It is almost 75 minutes worth of music and you would think that it is easy to get bored with so much music. Unless the quality is extremely high and it indeed is!
The songs are crafted superbly. They have definitely developed their songwriting skills by miles. You have the pounding drums, the awesome guitars and riffs and the aggressive vocals. Not to mention the choruses are catchy as hell! There are absolutely no signs of formulas or repetitions that unfortunately invade today’s music.
Tracks like the first single “Black Eyed”, “Push/Pull” have all the necessary ingredients for any fans of nice, heavy, aggressive and bearded music. “Ashore” on the other hand is the album’s anthem, it brings down the pace and is a more melodic piece of work that ends up being a breath of fresh air towards the end of the album.
Have this said, “The Hutch” is an incredible album and proves that Steak Number Eight are one of the brightest up-and-coming artists of modern metal music. They are visibly taking huge steps forward and it is great to see that. I certainly have high hopes of whatever they will be doing in the future. Highly recommended.
