When Hey Colossus released their debut album Hey Colossus Hates You in 2004, they turned heads, as one of the few bands experimenting with a sound that was both psychedelic and hardcore. Planting themselves at the heart of the noise rock scene, the group made it known that they were a product of roaring guitars and hellish screams. Their sound was raw, completely authentic and oozing with pure passion.
Now over two decades into their craft, Hey Colossus has shifted a fair bit into the alternative space, leaving behind the helter-skelter punk that was once ingrained in their early work. After a two-year break, on Christmas Day last year, the psychedelic six-piece announced a brand new record Heaven Was Wild alongside a mini documentary.
In the years they’ve been a group, Hey Colossus have dropped 14 studio albums, each with the raw intensity of noise rock and psychedelia at its core. This time around the group is bouncing back with a softer, more melodic offering. It’s hard not to live in the past, when the past for Hey Colossus is so good. If you’re listening to this record with fresh ears, then you can appreciate that it’s a fun concoction of alternative rock songs. It perfectly captures a lazy-rocker swagger. But for OG fans, I fear, that this time around, Hey Colossus aren’t exactly wowing us with this record.
Following the slightly gothic In Blood, Heaven Was Wild has a more joyous buzz to it. Listening to it is like taking a step into the vortex of an early 2000s time capsule, as the sounds of indie nostalgia are ever-present through distorted guitars and muffled vocals.
For what it’s worth, the record is pretty seamless, since between opener ‘Cannibal Forecast’ and ‘Roses’, the two are hardly interchangeable. The prominent buzz of distorted electric guitar rings throughout, and Paul Sykes’ vocals stay sultry with an almost airbrushed finish. Production-wise, Heaven Was Wild has the power to submerge you deeply, like you’re absorbing the impact of every note inside your head.
Completing with ‘The Spiders Lane’, this track has an uncertainty, a plainness that’s often felt in indie shoegaze. It’s soft and delicate, but somehow translates as slightly uninteresting. It’s not quite the epic farewell you’d expect for the final single of an album.
Overall, Heaven Was Wild isn’t a bad record, it just isn’t their best. There are some strong moments like ‘People You Long to Forget’, an alluring track with a menacing chorus line, or the post-punk grungy undertones in ‘You’ll Rot’. But for the most part, the tracks all blend into one. I can’t help but yearn for the sound Hey Colossus were striving towards in the early 2000s.
