Review by Joshua Becker | October 16, 2019
Hybridism is a “djent” band from Belgium. For those who may not know, “djent” is a relatively new sub-genre of progressive metal with lower-pitched guitar sounds. Their latest album is eponymous of the band’s name.
Before even getting into this review, I read their biography, and they are an all instrumental band- somewhat of a rarity in music. They said they tried to add vocals, but it did not mesh well with their sound, so they kept it all instrumental.
As for the album itself, it’s like a metal lite for me. Where it has aspects of metal, like the heavy drums, the guitar, the bass, etc. but the instruments are toned down a bit, just as the genre “djent” is meant to be.
Going through the songs, there is always a guitar somewhere in the background, in addition to the drums, and at times, even some electronic or mechanical sounds, sometimes in the foreground, sometimes in the background.
I honestly would be curious to see how this would sound with say a female singer. I know this was not their intention, however, and they want to stay all instrumental.
I also worry that a listener may not like the songs if they are in fact all instrumental. My recommendation is to try to get a vocalist, maybe not on all the songs, but definitely on at least a few of them. Finnish band Apocalyptica does this with different guest vocalists.
I would give this album a perfect 5, but without a singer, it just is not for me. Though, the instrumentals are great, so I will give this album 4 out of 5 stars.
Overall Rating: 4/5
Hybridism is now out and can be found on Apple Music, Spotify, and other digital outlets.
Official Band Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hybridismband
Ethereal Metal Webzine 
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