Achilles

Hospice

[4.5/5]

It took human beings millions of years to evolve; it took Rochester, New York’s Achilles only three. Hospice is so many light years ahead of 2004’s self-titled EP that you wouldn’t even know it’s the same band. Achilles’ controlled chaos is now at its peak in every one of these dark and dynamic songs, and the hoarse but punctuating outbursts of singer Rory VanGrol make it all come full circle. His urgent scream of “Do you know what you will be asked when you die” punches through the epic riffing of “Dear Old Tyger That Sleeps” with such vigor that your jaw and the floor will be one and the same, but it’s only the tip of the iceberg. This is a diverse effort that attacks from every frenzied front; walls of distortion, cathartic screams and mind-blowing instrumentation that have pushed the band far beyond what one genre can contain. And we have a feeling that it’s only the beginning. (HEX) Jordan Rogowski