It’s hard nowadays to produce a smooth and even slightly catchy rock sound without the material in question feeling too manufactured. It all sounds way too streamline or can really feel like the band is just trying to have mass appeal rather than speaking with soul in their sound or really putting themselves out there such that you can hear it in their music. That doesn’t mean all fall to such a fate, though, as we can see that with Hangmore’s upcoming work being plenty of what a rock album of that caliber should be.

With just six tracks going into this little EP, I honestly was not expecting all that much going into what Hangmore has made for us, but that doesn’t mean I was waiting for anything along the lines of unsavory or even bad. The first song was proof enough that Hangmore knew what they were doing for “Hydra”, and it’s with the following five tracks that we see this act really show us they aren’t here to make just one song and then half-ass the rest. The whole of this offering is plenty of what draws people into rock in the first place: a good amount of soul, melodies that really get you going, it’s smooth but has that little bit of intensity that really gets people’s attention, and it can become a real earworm if you let it settle into the right spot. The vast majority, if not all, of “Hydra” is precisely that as this band easily maneuvers their way around any sort of problem that any band might have trying to find that sweet spot for the right rock sound that doesn’t become hollow or pretentious in any way, and Hangmore absolutely smashes such a challenge in every single song here.

They still have loads of room for improvement as virtually every band does, but that doesn’t make the contents of “Hydra” any less of a joy to listen to. What we get here is a band that’s actually trying to become accessible while not forgetting the key factors that have always made rock interesting to listen to in the first place, and Hangmore is doing a pretty damn good job at it so far.

“Hydra” releases on November 22nd!

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