Short Reviews [My Own Shiva - 2019 - "Holograms"]

If someone were to ask me where this band hail from, then the response would be that they are obviously American, but there are elements contained within this which makes me think they are probably from New York. To use a Kiwi phrase, “yeah, nah”. This 2019 album is actually from Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan, and I am sure that if they were based in the West then many more people would know about it. They say, “We make best metal music in Central Asia. We like experiments and always try to find something interesting in our sounding. We are from small town, but this is not the reason to do nothing. Just listen to us and you will follow!” They are nothing if not confident, and that really comes through in their music. While the best description is probably metalcore, they are doing a lot with that, bringing in djent at times, moving more into commercial hardcore at others, with a very modern sound. At times one thinks of Life Of Agony, at others Linkin Park, while Animals as Leaders and Meshuggah are never too far away either. The production is solid, with the riffs hitting hard and this is a powerful release with plenty going for it. Since this album they have released another song, “Replicant”, and these can all be easily found on Bandcamp. Based on this album here is a band who could easily break out of their home country and attract serious attention on the wider metal stage, and this will definitely be of interest to anyone who enjoys intense high-octane modern metal. This album really does have quite a lot going for it and is worthy of further investigation.