Hypnos - _Halfway to Hell_
(Crystal Productions, 2010)
by: Chaim Drishner (7 out of 10)
Hypnos is back, after a long hiatus and a brilliant legacy in the form of the band's phenomenal debut and sophomore albums, _In Blood We Trust_ and _The Revenge Ride_ respectively. Hypnos version 2010 is more stripped-down a musical entity, delivering quality, meat-and-potatoes, basic Euro death metal in a very straightforward manner; the music is still ominous, still it flows slowly and thickly, like black and poisonous magma, and still it is very much contagious, infecting the listener with basic, yet skillful, classic death metal riffs.

Hypnos 2010 also throws into its blackened musical cauldron some minor death 'n' roll innuendos here and there, but not once does the music go astray nor does it lose its firm grip on the attention. In general, the band is much more into focusing on melody (without succumbing to cheesiness or saccharine tunes) and atmosphere (but never at the expense of the heaviness factor) than anything else; neither does Hypnos aim at playing super fast, nor does it lose itself to the false god of senseless, mindless brutality.

_Halfway to Hell_ is the perfect death metal album for anyone who wishes to witness firsthand death metal's appeal; when death metal is done right, one realizes the whole of the metal genre had been created just to produce this kind of albums: macho, brute, intelligent, gut-wrenching, Earth-shattering, soul-searing. Equipped with inhuman vocals, Stygian guitars and otherworldly quasi-melodic landscapes painted gray and pitch-black, Hypnos knows all too well the art of death. It's time you will know it too!

Contact: http://www.myspace.com/hypnoscz

(article published 26/10/2010)

4/10/2014 C Drishner 8.5 Hypnos - The Fall
4/12/2002 P Schwarz 8 Hypnos - The Revenge Ride
1/10/2001 P Schwarz 8 Hypnos - In Blood We Trust
8/12/2000 P Schwarz 7.5 Hypnos - Hypnos

