Toundra – Hex
Release Date: 14th January 2022
Label: Inside Out Music
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Genre: Instrumental Post Rock with Prog elements.
FFO: Explosions In The Sky, This Will Destroy You, Caspian.
Review By: Ben Harris-Hayes
Madrid natives, Toundra, have been in the game for a long time now and are back with their 8th album of instrumental progressive post-rock for us all to get our heads around.
Straight off the bat, the opening 22 minute/three-part track, El Odio (which translates as ‘hatred’) has hints of This Will Destroy You, Caspian, Explosions In The Sky and dare I say, Rodrigo y Gabriela in terms of the acoustic guitars.
(I also noted, perhaps, some influence by Tool and ISIS)
Flurries of delayed soaked guitars wash over the acoustic guitars, as the rhythm section hold it all together in El Odio Parte I.
Part two of this epic opening track started with a massive hint of System Of A Down!
I heard the opening chord pattern and my mind instantly thought of that band…which is not a bad thing at all. Just something I thought I’d mention.
Although, that thought is quickly washed away amongst a tempo-shifting deluge of sections and mood shifts that make up the 2nd part of this triptych.
There is a clear love for the use of dynamic control within the band and, dare I sat it, a certain mastery of that art; as things steadily build with extra layers of instrumentation before exploding into the resolve.
Something I really liked about part 2 was the return of an earlier triple-time picked riff.
I’m a fan of hearing how bands “get out” of certain feels or sections once they’ve laid down the bedding (so to say) and then how they go into another section or recall a refrain within the music without it sounding jarring or shoe-horned in.
Toundra certainly nailed that on part two of this track.
Part 3, El Odio. Parte III, slides into our ears with the similar vibes are the previous 2 tracks and offers a lovely Explosions In The Sky-style outro vibe to it’s near-7 minute journey.
After listening to all four parts of ‘El Odio’; I re-listened to it once more, but this time I watched the accompanying ‘short movie’ that is on their record labels website. (I’ve put the link below)
However, the watch-along with the video didn’t do much for me, I’m afraid.
After that 22-minute one-track journey, the record moves to the ‘B-Side’ with 4 standalone tracks.
(Entitled, Ruinas, La Larga Marcha, Watt, FIN, respectively)
‘Ruinas’ continues the same musical themes as the opening track, but I really did enjoy a few riffs in this track occurring at around 1:30 in the track.
‘La Larga Marcha’ chucks in a saxophone to add a bit of musical chaos to the swirling movements within this track.
The final shorter track, ‘Fin’ could be straight out of a film or a computer game.
It reminded me of a ton of other pieces, but yet was still very much its own thing. I liked it!
OK, so I get that writing a purely instrumental record is very tough.
Trying to convey a myriad of emotions without vocals and lyrics is exceptionally difficult.
Being a big fan of post-rock bands, I give credit to Toundra for sticking to their guns and doing what they darn well wanted with this album.
It’s a solid musical journey, even if a number of the tracks could somewhat easily be mistaken for other tracks…but that’s just part of the journey, and I am sure subsequent listens would definitely distinguish the tracks as separate songs.
One thing I will add is that at least once in each song they had me smiling at a particular riff or section that was simply epic…bravo.
There are more than a few “Ohhhhh, I love that riff” moments throughout the record.
So, is Hex worth a listen?
Most definitely…if you are a fan of instrumental post-rock music that is done well.
I, personally, craved for something a bit ‘off the wall’ at points to break up the same vibes that occur on the record…but sometimes that just isn’t what a band is aiming for, so fair play to Toundra for sticking to their guns.
The guitars are set to stun, the synths and sound design are on point and subtle,
the drums are fantastic, and the bass is monstrous. Get on it.
(3.5 / 5)
