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Hinayana’s Order Divine is by far one of the most anticipated releases for me in recent time. So when I got a copy of the album in advance I hardly dared to push play! Would it meet my expectations? Or would It be so bad that I wouldn’t be able to write down a single word? Luckily it was not the latter as it would have been a terrible review.
I was taken by surprise by Hinayanas demo - Endless from 2014 and loved their moderately paced gloomy melodic death metal, the only thing I really missed was air between the instruments. But I’ve got something to tell you and it is this: there is plenty of air, it is absolutely worthy of appraisal and it is too damned short! Casey Hurd, should be proud of what he and the rest of the band has accomplished; it is quality melodic death metal with a dash of doom which can be heard on repeat. You can take any given track of the album and not be disappointed.
From the first atmospheric intro the mood of the album is set: organic, vast and grandiose with a melancholic dark spirit. The cold wind and the melancholic guitar lets your mind wander to a cold, barren, grey and doomed landscape filled with dark struggles of the mind. After the intro follows "The window" which sends the album on its way galloping over before-mentioned harsh landscapes.
The album is perfectly mixed, everything lays in neat layers letting you explore every instrument. The drums has such a rich warm tone that kind of sucks you into the core of the tracks and together with the bass sets a stable foundation. The rough grinding guitar that makes up the massive wall of sound together with the keys, which by the way is so subtle and finely added that they really enhances the tracks to a grandiose state. On top of this you will find clear delicate guitar melodies that all together pleases my ears in symbiosis with Casey’s articulated growls.
So what can you expect? Not a dull moment that is for sure! Extremely steadfast melodies that offers everything from powerful passages to moody depths and enlightened heights. The album is homogeneous and hold together so tightly that it is hard to pick a track to single out, but there is one that, for me at least, stand out just a bit more and it is the overall darkest track of the entire album "Return to nothing". It hit a chord with me from the very first time I heard it. Its gentle buildup, Casey's whispers in the beginning, the moodier darker feeling and finally the great chorus that sparks an overwhelming urge to break into a sing-a-long frenzy only matched by Amon Amarths' "Guardians of Asgaard". So please join me while I jump up on a rock, gazing out over the barren lands, raising a fist towards the dark rainy skies and bellow out: "Pain, follow me now. The darkest place I left behind!", just before making a free fall into oblivion!
This could have been the perfect ending to a perfect album, but the album closes off with the slower paced "Conduit Closing" which brightens up the mood a bit with a more airy contemplative feeling. It is as if the albums dark struggle has been resolved and has come to some kind of peace and that is the perfect ending to a perfect album!