A musical journey of epic proportions awaits in the first EP in a three-part series from Hyper Battle that is simply titled I (read as “one”). Encompassing dystopian themes throughout, there’s a broad range of influences swirling around including alternative rock, electronica, and prog.
Act one of the story takes heroes, Cylo Hyper and Juneau on a postapocalyptic walk through a ruined Earth in the year 2037. Amidst screechy solo guitar tones and melancholy synthesizers, the opening songs (“Forest” and “Ticking of the Clock”) feel like the soundtrack for a somber road trip before arriving at the sweeter and driving electronic tones of “11:11” and “Underwater Beach”. By the time we reach the closing track “Enlightenment” the entire experience feels like a lucid daydream that echoes into oblivion.
With a gradual build that finds our two protagonists on search for “extinguished light”, there are palpable shifts in mood between moments of levity where there is a sense of fun to the anxiety that comes from living in a damaged world. Their journey is entirely embedded in the music, so the best storyteller in this case are the vibrations of this strange new world that Hyper Battle is creating. Stay tuned for Acts II and III coming down the pipeline soon.
I is available on major streaming platforms like Spotify, Deezer, and BandCamp. Find this and more excellent music on the Alchemical Records Multigenre Mixture playlist on Spotify.
Charlie Maybee is a dancer, musician, educator, and writer based in Charleston, South Carolina who currently teaches with the Dance Program at the College of Charleston. His primary work as an artist is with his performing collective, Polymath Performance Project, through which he makes interdisciplinary performance art that centers tap dance as the primary medium of expression and research. He also currently plays rhythm guitar for the Charleston-based punk band, Anergy, and releases music as a solo artist under the name Nox Eterna.
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Alchemical Records is a Washington, D.C. based music publication. We cover the Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Richmond, VA metro area music scenes, including band interviews, articles about your favorite musicians, new music and concert dates.
