Maxdmyz are back with their brand new album The Hate Plane and is indeed an intriguing listen, with the band’s music spanning various genres into one. It largely works well for the outfit, because it means you’re kept on your toes as you’re never quite sure what to expect, however there are a few occasions where things don’t quite gel and you’re left scratching your head in response.
Opener Cyanide certainly sways more towards the thrashier side of proceedings with a fantastically chunky tone to it all and it’s a rather substantial offering, really playing to the band’s strengths as they power through it at a tremendous pace. Meanwhile, Hate In Justice brings together the aforementioned thrash with industrial and even a bit of nu-metal style vocals at times, and it’s a bit of a strange mix, with the vocals in particular sounding a bit out of place. You certainly can’t fault the versatility but they just don’t quite slot into place on this one.
However, that isn’t to say that particular style is out of place for the entire album because Turncoat Soul is an especially strong track. There’s a wonderful underlying darkness to the track, certainly aided by the deep vocals at the beginning, and they run seamlessly into the rapped/spoken style a little later on, not sounding at all out-of-place like in previous tracks – so it goes to show that just because something doesn’t work on one occasion, it doesn’t mean it’s a completely bad idea.
You certainly can’t fault Maxdmyz for originality and The Hate Plane is a good little listen but it does feel like it needs a little bit of fine-tuning here and there.
6/10
