Hoth: Astral Necromancy (2018)

Okay, we have a band named after the ice planet at the beginning of The Empire Strikes Back in which Luke Skywalker was nearly killed by a wampa.  We have a band logo that looks like Darth Vader's TIE fighter.  Yep, it is pretty clear this band MAY have been influenced by the Star Wars movie.  Now, in the early years, this was a lot more blatant, with song titles like "Drowned by the Dianoga" and "The Rancor".  I am not a huge Star Wars fan, so maybe the references are lost on me but it seems like the influence is less obvious with this release.  The themes are definitely still science fiction-based.

Now, I do not really have a problem with a band taking influence from this kind of thing, but it does kind of limit the appeal for me if it is something that I am not that interested in.  Plenty of bands have done entire albums about Tolkien stories, which is another series I am not hugely interested in, and yet, I do enjoy the albums.  If it was a metal band that took influence from the Harry Potter universe though, I would be completely lost.  So the Star Wars influence is interesting, but would not really grab me that much.  It would not completely turn me off.  I can say though, I am glad it is not as obvious with this release.

Enough of that, is the music any good?  That after all, is the most important thing here.  Fuck yes it is.  Hoth's sound is based around influences from bands like Dissection, Naglfar, Nifelheim and other melodic black metal bands.  And they definitely have that freezing cold Storm of the Light's Bane atmosphere down.  Which is a good thing for a band named after a fictional ice planet.  The riffs are damn catchy and the songs equally so.

One of the more interesting tracks on the album is "Citadel of the Necromancer".  That song flips the script a little bit and presents a downright positive and triumphant atmosphere that comes as a complete shock next to the much darker songs like "The Horrid Truth" and "The Living Dreams of a Dead God".  It is the fanfare at the chorus lines that really does it.

There have been a lot of great melodic black metal albums in the last few years (Uada, Behemoth, Necrophobic, Watain, etc.), but Hoth may be one of the best.  This is a terrific album that tells some dark and intriguing stories.  It is the storytelling ability that really separates Hoth from the pack.  They may have started out obsessed with Star Wars, but now they are telling their own stories and the music fits in incredibly well.  Not many bands can do that.