{"id":96166,"date":"2024-05-08T13:00:28","date_gmt":"2024-05-08T12:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/?p=96166"},"modified":"2024-05-07T23:08:50","modified_gmt":"2024-05-07T22:08:50","slug":"influences-haal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/influences-haal\/","title":{"rendered":"Influences: HAAL"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On their debut EP,\u00a0<em>&#8216;Back To Shilmarine&#8217;<\/em>, emerging Bristol group\u00a0<strong>HAAL<\/strong> demonstrate an off-kilter mix of post-rock, trip-hop, and industrial music. It results in an intriguing collection of songs that border on experimentation, through the use of spoken word musings (as heard on <em>&#8216;Vinculum&#8217;<\/em>),\u00a0samples, and effects pedals (see <em>&#8216;Platform 1, 18:19&#8217;<\/em>). On top of that, vocalist\/guitarist Alfie Hay covers themes such as transhumanism, cosmic existentialism, absurdism, meaning, inner reflection, science, history, and general philosophy, making <em>&#8216;Back To Shilmarine&#8217;<\/em> even more magnetic.<\/p>\n<p>Besides their angular intricacies,\u00a0<strong>HAAL<\/strong> aren&#8217;t afraid to let loose. <em>&#8216;Vinculum&#8217;<\/em> erupts with steely blasts. <em>&#8216;Platform 1, 18:19&#8217; <\/em>sees Hay&#8217;s distant screams complementing a wall of distortion. Whereas\u00a0<em>&#8216;To Be A Machine&#8217;<\/em> soothingly broods with sci-fi-like synths before crash landing with big, striking guitars.<\/p>\n<p>With such a beguiling range of sounds and textures, it seemed ideal to ask Alfie Hay from <strong>HAAL\u00a0<\/strong>to highlight seven albums that have shaped their sound.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Vinculum\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/hbaMltN8h7A?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>Biffy Clyro &#8211; Blackened Sky<\/h2>\n<p>They are absolute masters of tension and release, with possibly my favourite ever guitar tone on an album. It was also one of the first records I discovered on my own too when I was about 14, so it holds a special place in my musical journey. <i>\u2018Time As An Imploding Unit\/Waiting For Green\u2019<\/i> might be one of my all-time favourite songs.<\/p>\n<h2>Massive Attack &#8211; Mezzanine<\/h2>\n<p>This is sonic proof that music doesn\u2019t have to have proper chuggy riffs and breakdowns to constitute it being &#8220;heavy&#8221;. I felt this album best encapsulates heaviness with its mood and atmosphere through its use of synths and sampling. The breakdown in <i>\u2018Risingson\u2019<\/i> has to be one of the best ever things to happen.<\/p>\n<h2>Nine Inch Nails &#8211; The Fragile<\/h2>\n<p>Another example of not necessarily being guitar heavy, but an album that achieves it sonically through its genius utilisation of ambience and atmosphere. I wanted to emulate how he approaches concept records too, especially with how each each song interacts with each other as it goes on.<\/p>\n<h2>Rage Against The Machine &#8211; Rage Against The Machine<\/h2>\n<p>This is the best album ever made I reckon. I did my Year 6 Music Research project on it whilst everyone else did Basshunter. Remember shitting my pants trying to find one tune in which the lyrics didn\u2019t have a swear word to highlight &#8211; I went with <i>&#8216;Wake Up&#8217;<\/i> in the end which only has one <i>&#8220;Shit&#8221;<\/i>!<\/p>\n<h2>Queens of the Stone Age &#8211; Songs For The Deaf<\/h2>\n<p>I love how they can write heavier riffs, but still create catchy melodies that serve the songs. Josh Homme\u2019s guitar playing too is a big influence, particularly with how he plays with his own unique made-up tunings and his Polska guitar background.<\/p>\n<h2>The Mars Volta &#8211; DeLoused In The Comatorium<\/h2>\n<p>I loved how they re-interpreted jazz and fusion to an almost metal context. The way they craft and hone chaos into melody on this record was a big influence on my guitar playing and our EP as a whole.<\/p>\n<h2>Slint &#8211; Spiderland<\/h2>\n<p>I was very late to this album, having written most of the EP before I came across it. But reading into the influence this album had on many of the other bands in this list (early Biffy Clyro notably), it makes a lot of sense! Your band\u2019s favourite band etc.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Spotify Embed: Influences: HAAL\" style=\"border-radius: 12px\" width=\"100%\" height=\"352\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/playlist\/7jVVBccIdm5RYfLQOZiATh?si=b0788888a5394633&#038;utm_source=oembed\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8216;Back To Shilmarine&#8217;<\/em> by <strong>HAAL<\/strong> is released on 10th May on <strong>Babka Records<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Find <strong>HALL\u00a0<\/strong>on:\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/haalband\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/haalband\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">X (Formerly Twitter)<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/haalband\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instagram<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/haalband.bandcamp.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bandcamp<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ahead of releasing their intriguing debut EP, we spoke to the rising Bristol group about the albums that shaped their sound.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":96167,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2329,144],"tags":[17677,14975],"class_list":["post-96166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-influences","tag-haal","tag-influences"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - 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