Minneapolis’ HIVE has been delivering heavy hitting crust punk and hardcore crossed with hints of sludge and doom since 2015, and this year they’ve returned with another destructive, scorching album titled Spiritual Poverty. Where the group’s full-length debut Parasitic Twin had bursts of fast paced D-beat driven crust with darker melodies laid over top and lengthier dips into slower territory, 2019’s Most Vicious Animal stripped things down in favor of a more straightforward and bludgeoning approach. Spiritual Poverty feels like it’s retained the shorter, conciseness of its predecessor while also exploring some of the other stylistic elements from earlier in the band’s discography. This does still result in some moments that run together over repeat listens, but the sheer destructive nature and tightness of the performances make HIVE’s latest worth returning to.
At just over half an hour in length, Spiritual Poverty makes a point to channel all its rage into quick bursts of raging D-beat, sludge, and everything in between. Opener “With Roots in Hell” comes roaring out of the gate with darker melodic leads and a lumbering back end that sees the bass and drums power forth with enough intensity to cave in your chest. It’s an approach that continues to work well for the band and this might be the best they’ve sounded on record yet. Stylistically the emphasis here continues to be on darker crust and hardcore where a lot of D-beat is used, coming in somewhere between influential US acts like His Hero is Gone/Tragedy and Swedish contemporaries like Martyrdöd. “So It Is Done” in particular sounds like it could’ve been ripped right out of Tragedy’s repertoire circa the Vengeance days, and considering that not all crust hits that same chest thumping and sound that added to the appeal for me. HIVE spends the first half of Spiritual Poverty doing their best to pummel listeners into the dirt with dark and somber melodies that are placed over top of a raging foundation, but once you hit “Metamorphosis” it’s clear they haven’t fully lost their slower inclinations. The song name is appropriate as it transforms the sound into a more introspective yet still destructive sound, and this expansion of stylistic elements is continued on “Order as Law” and “Hallucination”. The latter even has some slight hints of post punk in its jagged guitar leads, though this does give way to the D-beat driven assault by the end. I appreciate the subtle shifts on the second half that help specific moments to stand out, though admittedly the more straightforward nature of the album still makes a lot of it run together over repeat listens. Spiritual Poverty’s first half in particular struggles with this, but even if specific moments don’t quite stand out the precise and heavy hitting take on this blend of hardcore and punk has continued to draw me back.
While the instrumentals may have melodic flourishes, the vocals remain as pissed off and utterly crushing as possible for the entire album. Less than thirty seconds into Spiritual Poverty listeners are met with extremely low-pitched screams/growls and higher pitched backing screams that seem like they can punch directly through buildings. It’s the type of intensity that makes an immediate impression, and HIVE keeps things at this level consistently. The vocal performance is where I’m reminded the most of Tragedy, as the lower registers come very close, though HIVE has their own nuances that keep things from feeling exactly the same. My only critique is the higher screams sometimes get swallowed up in the mix, breaking through at some points but not others.
Three albums in, HIVE continues to be as bleak and heavy hitting as possible while still letting some darker melodic elements seep in. With how they’ve structured this material, the first half does blur together into a faster torrent of raging D-beat and the second half is where some of the more specific nuances start to stand out. But even with this being the case, the short length and precision of the attack still works to HIVE’s advantage and makes them worth checking out if you’re a fan of the genre. Spiritual Poverty is available from Translation Loss Records.
-Review by Chris Dahlberg
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