{"id":32042,"date":"2012-11-29T10:45:21","date_gmt":"2012-11-29T10:45:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-the-hickey-underworld-im-under\/"},"modified":"2018-03-11T01:30:08","modified_gmt":"2018-03-11T01:30:08","slug":"album-review-the-hickey-underworld-im-under","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-the-hickey-underworld-im-under\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: The Hickey Underworld – I\u2019m Under The House, I\u2019m Dying"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"There\u2019s a great sense of unease that I get when first playing The Hickey Underworld<\/strong>\u2019s latest album, \u2018I\u2019m Under The House, I\u2019m Dying.\u2019<\/em> Firstly, what is that band name all about? The band is Belgian but even a dodgy Google translation mishap does not explain such an incoherent mess of a name. There is also a sense of unease that this album is just not my cup of tea: sleazy, rocky, riffs in the style of a poor man\u2019s Guns \u2018N\u2019 Roses (so, Velvet Revolver then) characterise the album and despite some stand out moments, this is an album that never really captures the imagination in a significant way.<\/p>\n

This album is riff-tastic, a riffy mess of riffing riffness (there\u2019s a lot of riffs) with tracks like \u2018Whistling\u2019<\/em> and \u2018Thierry\u2019<\/em> piling the riffage on us until we can take no more riffs. There have been a lot of comparisons of The Hickey Underworld<\/strong> to The Mars Volta and this is not misplaced here, with powerful but intellectual tracks like \u2018The Frog\u2019<\/em> ably supporting the association. There is also a hint of early Muse here too, with the ambition of Matt Bellamy and Co definitely mirrored on tracks like \u2018Cold Embrace.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

There are grundgy moments on the album too, with tracks like \u2018Year of the Rat\u2019<\/em> providing a gloomy and brooding moment. It is one of the highlights of the album, a track with real character. It is here The Hickey Underworld<\/strong> begin to sound a bit like HIM in their \u2018Love Metal\u2019<\/em> phase, never a bad thing in this reviewer\u2019s opinion. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

There are mellower moments, like \u2018Martian\u2019s Cave\u2019<\/em> and this does break the album up a bit, offering another side to the band\u2019s output. Whilst I appreciate this, there is again a lack of killer song writing ability here that leaves this album more frustrating than fruitful.<\/p>\n

Despite musical proficiency, this is an album that just didn\u2019t agree with any of my senses. I can see there is an appeal here and I can even understand why someone might actively seek out and enjoy this album; it just doesn\u2019t click with my ears. The tracks are mildly catchy and some moments stand out more than others, but this is overall an album that does not deliver the knockout blow. Earlier comparisons to The Mars Volta fall flat as it lacks that all-encompassing killer riff or \u201cwow\u201d moment. This should definitely be sought out if opulent alt-rock appeals but avoided if not.\u00a0<\/p>\n

3\/5<\/p>\n

‘I’m Under The House, I’m Dying’<\/em> by The Hickey Underworld<\/strong> is out now on Play It Again Sam<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The Hickey Underworld links: Facebook<\/a>|Twitter<\/a>|Tumblr<\/a><\/p>\n

Words by Tom White (@whiteywitters<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a great sense of unease that I get when first playing The Hickey Underworld\u2019s latest album, \u2018I\u2019m Under The House, I\u2019m Dying.\u2019 Firstly, what is that band name all about? The band is Belgian but even a dodgy Google translation mishap does not explain such an incoherent mess of a name. There is also […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32043,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,8181],"tags":[5879,14004,966,2622,14005],"class_list":["post-32042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","category-post","tag-album-reviews","tag-im-under-the-house-im-dying","tag-pias","tag-play-it-again-sam","tag-the-hickey-underworld"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAlbum Review: The Hickey Underworld - I\u2019m Under The House, I\u2019m Dying - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There\u2019s a great sense of unease that I get when first playing The Hickey Underworld\u2019s latest album, \u2018I\u2019m Under The House, I\u2019m Dying.\u2019 Firstly, what is\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Album Review: The Hickey Underworld - I\u2019m Under The House, I\u2019m Dying - Already Heard Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There\u2019s a great sense of unease that I get when first playing The Hickey Underworld\u2019s latest album, \u2018I\u2019m Under The House, I\u2019m Dying.\u2019 Firstly, what is\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-the-hickey-underworld-im-under\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Already Heard Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-11-29T10:45:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-03-11T01:30:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/hickleyunderworld.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"150\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"150\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@alreadyhearduk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@alreadyhearduk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Album Review: The Hickey Underworld - I\u2019m Under The House, I\u2019m Dying - Already Heard Staging","description":"There\u2019s a great sense of unease that I get when first playing The Hickey Underworld\u2019s latest album, \u2018I\u2019m Under The House, I\u2019m Dying.\u2019 Firstly, what is","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Album Review: The Hickey Underworld - I\u2019m Under The House, I\u2019m Dying - Already Heard Staging","og_description":"There\u2019s a great sense of unease that I get when first playing The Hickey Underworld\u2019s latest album, \u2018I\u2019m Under The House, I\u2019m Dying.\u2019 Firstly, what is","og_url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-the-hickey-underworld-im-under\/","og_site_name":"Already Heard Staging","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/","article_published_time":"2012-11-29T10:45:21+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-03-11T01:30:08+00:00","og_image":[{"width":150,"height":150,"url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/hickleyunderworld.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@alreadyhearduk","twitter_site":"@alreadyhearduk","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-the-hickey-underworld-im-under\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-the-hickey-underworld-im-under\/"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/508ed29771f8c5b56fdcf4695f22a2a3"},"headline":"Album Review: The Hickey Underworld – I\u2019m Under The House, I\u2019m Dying","datePublished":"2012-11-29T10:45:21+00:00","dateModified":"2018-03-11T01:30:08+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-the-hickey-underworld-im-under\/"},"wordCount":472,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-the-hickey-underworld-im-under\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/hickleyunderworld.jpg","keywords":["Album Reviews","I\u2019m Under The House I\u2019m Dying","PIAS","Play It Again Sam","The Hickey Underworld"],"articleSection":["Album Reviews","Post"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-the-hickey-underworld-im-under\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-the-hickey-underworld-im-under\/","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-the-hickey-underworld-im-under\/","name":"Album Review: The Hickey Underworld - I\u2019m Under The House, I\u2019m Dying - Already Heard Staging","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-the-hickey-underworld-im-under\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-the-hickey-underworld-im-under\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/hickleyunderworld.jpg","datePublished":"2012-11-29T10:45:21+00:00","dateModified":"2018-03-11T01:30:08+00:00","description":"There\u2019s a great sense of unease that I get when first playing The Hickey Underworld\u2019s latest album, \u2018I\u2019m Under The House, I\u2019m Dying.\u2019 Firstly, what is","inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-the-hickey-underworld-im-under\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-the-hickey-underworld-im-under\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/hickleyunderworld.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/hickleyunderworld.jpg","width":150,"height":150},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#website","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/","name":"Already Heard Staging","description":"Covering the best in alternative music as best as we can","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization","name":"Already Heard","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/AH-relaunch-logo-white-bg.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/AH-relaunch-logo-white-bg.jpg","width":500,"height":500,"caption":"Already Heard"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/","https:\/\/x.com\/alreadyhearduk","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/alreadyheard\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/already-heard\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/AlreadyHeardMusic","https:\/\/tiktok.com\/@alreadyhearduk","https:\/\/www.threads.net\/@alreadyheard"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/508ed29771f8c5b56fdcf4695f22a2a3","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bcf4d491c971b5225a3e3c450225c0ae6ba0217be8f6ecb776a9506d4aa5595f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bcf4d491c971b5225a3e3c450225c0ae6ba0217be8f6ecb776a9506d4aa5595f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bcf4d491c971b5225a3e3c450225c0ae6ba0217be8f6ecb776a9506d4aa5595f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32042"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36192,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32042\/revisions\/36192"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}