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Something I never thought I’d say, but LET THE MILK COOK.
Manchester’s “chaos club” Hot Milk have finally unleashed their debut album upon us, and A Call To The Void does not disappoint. Nearly half the album was drip-fed to us in singles in the months prior, and while I can safely say that those four singles were the band at their best, the rest of the album’s offerings are by no means unworthy of standing alongside them.
Hot Milk embrace their unbridled angst from start to finish, debuting with an album that pulls no punches. No matter the mood or theme of the song, the same pace and energy are injected into every instrumental, sweeping the listener through at breakneck speed. This pace coupled with the relatively short tracklist makes this album a quick experience, over very abruptly when it feels like the band have just built to the climax.
However, flow of the album aside, the sheer quality of the tracks, adjacent to each other and alone, is fantastic. If this was the emo that was popular when I was younger, I’d be sitting here right now in a striped long-sleeve underneath a band t-shirt.
(edit: Evan here, I fully back this sentiment, HotMilk has opened a whole new genre for me, cheers Ives)
After an obligatory opening to rev the engine, HORROR SHOW starts the album off with a bang. With a bridge that sounds like it should be the backing track to an anime character powering up to beat the bad guy in the middle of the song’s supersonic instrumentals, the leading single makes itself known. Placing this song at the start was a deft move for Hot Milk to set the pace of the album and prepare the ears for what’s in store. As any lead single should be, this song also has a nasty, catchy set of riffs to it as well.
The allegory for substance abuse and addiction that is BLOODSTREAM manages to be quite sorrowful and hard-hitting in spite of its production sticking to the hard-as-nails theme of the rest of the album. This song in particular is a lyrical highlight, playing out like angsty poetry.
PARTY ON MY DEATHBED encapsulates the chaotic highs talked about in its predecessor track. The lyrics and instrumental backing harken to the peaks of hedonism, with a sound that is downright deadly. For me, this is the track of the album, definitely an understandable pick for a single release. It goes crazy.
Reeling back the intensity of the sound only a little bit is ALICE COOPER’S POOL HOUSE. Frontman Tom’s vocals in this song compete with the likes of Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance’s leads. The skit at the end was a welcome inclusion of some dark comedy, if a bit morbid, to add to the plot of the song.
While ZONED OUT was definitely a song of equal quality to the songs before it, it sounds like ‘your average’ Hot Milk song. Now obviously in my own eyes this means it’s wonderful and goes hard, but for a listener who perhaps wants to hear the band’s unique attributes, I can’t wholly
recommend this song. It’s definitely still great, but blends in the most. This is what I think of when people use the term ‘album track’.
I thought OVER YOUR DEAD BODY would suffer the same fate as its forecomer, but Hot Milk really made this track lethal. Even throwing in some metal-esque screaming before one of the sickest bridges on the album, this song truly impressed me. It will definitely be a highlight for anyone seeing the band on their Autumn tour this year.
Han begins MIGRAINE by rhyming like the second coming of Marshall Mathers, before the track leans back into the sound the rest of the album perpetuates. Unfortunately another case like ZONED OUT, MIGRAINE becomes another ‘album track’, where the great sound and punching lyrics are there, but it doesn’t stand out.
Almost the complete opposite is true for BREATHING UNDERWATER. This track distances itself from the rest of the tracklist by slowing down (unheard of for this album) and focusing on Han and Tom’s lyrics over the instrumentals. This is undoubtedly where the dual fronts show their own vulnerability the most, which pays massive dividends to the thematic weight of the album. The signature angst rock sound is still there and still brilliant, but BREATHING UNDERWATER implores listening to the lyrics. Super track.
The rare instance of Hot Milk including features was a welcome surprise, as Julian Comeau and Loveless complemented the band’s energy very well on AMPHETAMINE. The last track on the album to absolutely assault the ears, the collaborative number eases the listener out of the high-octane rush of sound well while still managing to maintain a lot of it.
Finishing with FORGET ME NOT, Hot Milk end their debut album with a more somber and deeply intimate track. A love letter to the dead, or you might call it a call to the void, the closing track finally lets the listener come down from the high of its predecessors, and wraps up the project on a bittersweet note.
I’ve sung the praises this band deserves in previous articles, and this inaugural album after nearly two years of listening to them reminded me why I’d suddenly become such a fervent fan. Anyone waiting to catch them on tour in the next couple of months is in for a wild show. I can say with some certainty that even if the songs aren’t to your taste, the energy at their shows will be all you need to enjoy the night.
Look after each other in the pits, guys.
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