The Metal Files

What’s this?  Another new US metal band?  Don’t we have enough already?  When will the madness end?  The answer is: HOPEFULLY NEVER!  Especially when you have quality acts like Hysteria popping up.

Let’s face facts, Hysteria is not really that new. I mean the band is but the players are not. They are a culmination of the Bay Area’s Hell Fire and Fresno’s Haunt, both bands  are road dogs and shouldn’t be a secret to anyone who even moderately keeps up with American metal bands.

Now on to real business.  Night Closes In is the first release from Hysteria and comes out swinging. Solid straight up metal from the opener to the closer. To be honest, it does sound like a mix of Haunt and Hell Fire, which is a good thing.

I’m on my third listen and I think the album gets stronger as it progresses. with tracks 4-7 taking total control of the over album.  Look Alive, Eyes Open and Death Consumes Me are certainly my favorites but the album has a very good flow to it overall and the closer, Soldiers of Tribulation, is a slow roller and closes the album perfectly. The album is filled with solid memorable riffs and tasty solos, as expected from these two guitarists.

Production on the album is solid, my only complaint would be in the way the vocals were mixed. I really like Jake’s vocals in Hell Fire and they do sound good on this Hysteria album, but I think they ended up with a too many effects/layering/etc on his vocals, almost in a Ripper Owens kind of way. But it’s only a minor drawback for me and live they’ll cut right through everything like he does in Hell Fire. Vocal production on most new releases has been a pet peeve of mine for the last 15 years or so.  Damned digital age! haha.

Make no mistake about Hysteria, though. This album is worth owning and I’ve linked their Bandcamp page above so you can give them a listen yourself and, for now, buy their download. Can’t wait to see them live!

Tracks:

1. Graveyard
2. Prophets of the Void
3. One Year
4. Night Closing In
5. Death Consumes Me
6. Look Alive
7. Open Eyes
8. Soldiers of Tribulation

Band:
Jake Nunn-Vocals/Guitar (Hell Fire)
John Tucker-Guitar (Haunt)
Trevor Church-Bass (Haunt)
Mike Smith-Drums (Hell Fire)