Highly polished melody-fuelled rock for the masses...
Available as a download only single and very limited edition seven inch, London-based trio Hydrous take the plunge with their highly polished debut, 'She has To Be'.
Hydrous bill themselves as an 'alternative hard rocking' band with a 'massive war chest of epic rock songs'; well, that might be the case, but you certainly couldn't tell from listening to this single alone. As stunning as 'She Has To Be' is, it doesn't instantly conjure up 'war chest' type imagery. There is a certain amount of angst that is accentuated by the driving metallic guitars, but the song leans towards a more soft-rock-for-the-masses style. Its familiar but utterly intoxicating melody captures you at once, so much so that it would be difficult for even the most hardcore death metal fan to avoid finding themselves warbling along to the beautiful rise and fall of Anthony Timson's vocals.
Equal parts angelic delicacy and raw angst, Timson's vocals also play an integral part in the similarly impressive, 'Oval'. Beginning slowly and majestically and complete with twinkling piano, 'Oval' builds to a more upbeat song and, once again, includes an inescapable melody.
Although I don't think 'She Has To Be' is the work of a 'hard rocking' band, it is certainly a well-polished, intensely likeable, melody-fuelled single that will leave the more mainstream-rock audience begging for more. Watch this space.