{"id":463954,"date":"2025-09-30T20:19:19","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T20:19:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/463954\/"},"modified":"2025-09-30T20:19:19","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T20:19:19","slug":"review-hasard-abgnose-the-progressive-subway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/463954\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Hasard – Abgnose – The Progressive Subway"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Published by Andy<\/strong><\/a> on September 30, 2025September 30, 2025<\/p>\n

\"\"Artwork by: Roy de Rat<\/p>\n

Style: dissonant black metal, symphonic black metal (harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Blut Aus Nord, Deathspell Omega, Thy Catafalque, Imperial Triumphant<\/a>
Country: France
Release date: 5 September 2025<\/p>\n

Hazard (lone artist behind Hasard<\/strong> and Les Chants du Husard<\/strong>) is clearly a weird dude\u2014he\u2019s French, after all. And he takes after his compatriots, including the leaders of dissoblack\u2019s earliest innovations (Blut Aus Nord<\/strong>, Deathspell Omega<\/strong>), as well as several of the most famous existentialist philosophers (Sartre, Camus). Abgnose, sophomore record of Hazard\u2019s Hasard <\/strong>project, draws major inspiration from his forebears in both regards. Thankfully, the music is much more innovative than the lyrical point of view.<\/p>\n

Philosophically, Hasard<\/strong> is banal for edgy black metal bands. Clearly drawing from the lineage of the aforementioned Camus and Sartre: \u201cAbgnose is a testament to the greater force that governs our lives\u2026 pure chance. There is no greater entity\u2026 Just count the here and now, as there\u2019s no afterlife.\u201d High school level absurdism at its finest. Hazard channels this brand of slightly optimistic dread into extremely twisted and nightmarish music, sounding like a version of Aquilus<\/strong> from Tartarus\u2014that is, full of unnerving orchestrations. Starting with a base of punishingly loud and painfully dissonant black metal, Hasard<\/strong> melds horns and strings into the core of Abgnose\u2019s sound.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Hasard<\/strong> excels at composition, the five lengthy tracks never overstaying their welcome and effortlessly cycling between tempos, level of orchestration, and vocal styles in dramatic swells. Hazard\u2019s songwriting follows the ebbs and flows of successful film score music. For instance, the chunky nine-minute opener \u201cOniritisme\u201d oscillates between vile trem picked riffs and dark, horn-led sections reminiscent of Imperial Triumphant<\/strong>\u2019s earlier work. Around the halfway point of the track, Hazard strips back the densely layered instrumentation to just vibrato-laden violins and a sibilant unease. At the track\u2019s most symphonic near its end, \u201cOniritisme\u201d is brilliant, the horns cutting through the hellish murk in a triumphant brassy climax.<\/p>\n

Yet when Hasard<\/strong>\u2019s unique symphonic flair is less present, Abgnose suffers from several problems: a poor lead guitar and keyboard tone, frustrating production, and some melodies that transcend creepy and evil straight to just mildly annoying. The bright and off-kilter guitar can be draining to listen to after the hundredth disorienting tremolo-picked lead, while Hasard<\/strong> often utilizes a style of keyboard I can only describe as a \u201ccheap horror movie\u201d sound, like a haunted player\u2019s piano clacking away (or like label mates Sleep Paralysis<\/strong><\/a>). The symphonic instruments are put together with much more care and MUCH better attention to the timbral quality of the record. Abgnose is suffocating in large part due to its mix which, despite somehow boasting a dynamic range of nine, is deafening with little to no differentiation between the foreground and background layers\u2014a serious problem given how intricate the composition and instrumentation are on the record. I\u2019m all for getting lost in nightmarish, stream-of-consciousness music, but despite the emotive and lively composition, parts of Abgnose are as impenetrable as a brick wall, leading to a serious hindrance in replayability. The muddied production doesn\u2019t do the dynamic composition justice.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The last major critique is self-explanatory; one can only hear so many ostinato-ing horror movie melodies until they grow tedious. Each spin, I reach my breaking point by penultimate track \u201cAntienne Estrale,\u201d leaving the finale title track to be a superfluous addition. And in that sense, Hasard<\/strong> is successful at his gambit: he has driven his listener to madness. Unfortunately for him, I don\u2019t think that makes for particularly fun listening\u2014madness induced by campy horror textures and bad production isn\u2019t as authentic as from deeply unsettling dissonance and labyrinthine structures. There\u2019s incredible potential buried deep within Abgnose\u2019s tracks, but Hasard<\/strong> needs to perfect the style to go along with his substance.<\/p>\n

Recommended tracks: Oniritisme, Negascendance
You may also like: Aquilus<\/a>, Les Chants du Hasard, Sea Mosquito<\/a>, Creatvre<\/a>, Sleep Paralysis<\/a>
Final verdict: 6\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Related links: Bandcamp<\/a> | Instagram<\/a> | Metal-Archives<\/a><\/p>\n

Label: I, Voidhanger Records \u2013 Bandcamp<\/a> | Facebook<\/a> | Official Website<\/a><\/p>\n

Hasard<\/strong> is:
\u2013 Hazard (everything)<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n