There’s something oddly nostalgic about grime for me. Growing up in England, in school I was always surrounded by grime and drill due the pure volume of people around here who loved it, and while at the time I didn’t quite get it – primarily listening to rock, metal and EDM in my adolescent years – I developed a huge soft spot for it over the years. Perhaps it’s purely the nostalgia; the rose-tinted goggles that have made me seen the genre in a new light, or perhaps it was just my tastes broadening with age.
Either way, I have a huge appreciation for the genre nowadays, and when I discovered Hacktivist back in 2014, just as I was discovering what djent was, it felt awfully… serendipitous. The two worlds around me colliding in a way I never even considered. I don’t think my mind quite understood just how brilliant the cultural crossover they brought to the table was at the time, but I knew I liked it.
Before I get into this, I feel it’s important to address the elephant in the room with Hacktivist. The journey to Hyperdialect’s release clearly hasn’t been smooth sailing for the group. Since their debut (a whopping five years ago now) they lost not only their co-lead vocalist in Ben Marvin, but more pertinently their lead songwriter, guitarist, occasional clean vocalist and producer in Timfy James. It’s been quite the shift, but through the nervousness I felt upon those members departing, I still maintained faith. Besides, to be main rapping vocalist J Hurley was always the star of the show, here. However, I couldn’t ignore the fact that I loved Outside the Box for what it was, and was a tad hesitant on what was to come.
I say all of this, because I want the gravity of my opinion on Hyperdialect to surprise you as much as it did me upon conclusion of my first spin of the record. Ready? Here goes: not only is Hyperdialect a more than worthy to successor to Outside the Box and the group’s early work, in a lot of ways it’s outright better. Sure, the lack of Timfy James’ iconic production and soaring clean vocals (in fact, clean vocals are entirely absent on here) may be an initial turnoff to some, but what the Hyperdialect lacks in that, it makes up in almost every other department. James Hewitt’s insane riff work, the group’s fantastic performances all round (with new vocalist Jot Maxi being a standout), and a generally stronger sense of cohesion make this record a blast from (almost) end to end.
Opener “Anti Emcees” seeks to make a statement right off the bat: Hacktivist and here, and they’re faster and more aggressive than ever before. Make no mistake, Hyperdialect is a heavy album – much heavier than their previous work. This is particularly well-exemplified in “Anti Emcees”, as the group forays into death metal-esque blast beats and tremolo riffs in the track’s tail end. It’s an explosive opener if ever there was one, and a beyond satisfying way to kick off the record.
The track is followed by another two of the record’s very strongest, with “Luminosity” and “Lifeform” upping the djenty riffs tenfold, blasting you with groovy, gated riffs and hyper-speed flows. The latter of the two has a ridiculously fun bridge, dipping out the djent for a moment of reprieve, leaving vocalists J Hurley and Jot Maxi to alone with some heavy 808s, before slowly building up into one of the most aggressively bouncy breakdowns on the entire record.
However, the record hits a minor roadblock with its next track, “Armoured Core” featuring London-based rapper Kid Bookie. While not necessarily a bad song, it’s certainly the least interesting across Hyperdialect for me. The track’s cardinal sin is that – and I’m not quite sure how else to put it – I find Maxi’s hook on the track quite… annoying. Yelling in a dissatisfying and broken up flow, it just doesn’t quite work for me. The Tom Morello-esque solo is pretty sick, but generally the instrumental left me the most disinterested out of any track here.
Luckily, the album pulls it back with a flurry of great tracks. Title track “Hyperdialect” stands out as one of the album’s strongest, featuring fantastic vocal performances from Hurley, Maxi and featured vocalist Aaron Matts (ten56., ex-Betraying the Martyrs) and head-bobbing grooves throughout – it’s easily one of the strongest tracks in Hacktivist’s catalogue. The track further features one of the album’s sickest moments in its almost Born of Osiris-styled sweeping guitar solo.
As a small sidebar, I have to commend some of the more comedic bars across Hyperdialect. The first time I ever heard Hurley utter “never bar low like Gary” on “Lifeform” I legitimately laughed out loud. Further, some of the verbiage choices here (like “see what this pen does, it’s fucking stupendous” from “Turning the Tables”, or “Lifeform’s” other standout line “had you girl teaching me a lesson like I was a fucking pupil”) just lend to a heightened sense of fun on the lyrics here versus the group’s previous work. Don’t get me wrong – there are still plenty of politically-charged bangers (with “Dogs of War” being a particularly potent standout), but it all feels a bit more easy-going than before, to the album’s benefit. Admittedly, some of the album’s more preachy lyrical moments (the anti-braggadocious bars on “Dogs of War”, the entire technology bad verse on “Reprogram”) can be a little grating, but on the whole the lyrics feel a little less hopecore than before.
Late album track “Planet Zero” also impresses, switching up the album’s formula with a hyper-aggressive track – being one of the heaviest the group have penned in their history. The song features hyper-speed chugs and the most overt screaming vocals across the entire album, with Maxi laying down some truly, unexpectedly brutal screams, and Hurley sounding the closest to a scream he’s ever gotten. It’s a great way to break things up before the album’s end, and a great way to switch up the album’s sound in general.
Penultimate track “How Dare You Exist” is another highlight, but it’s a double-edged sword. This song truly would’ve been the perfect closer, having a far more effective sense of finality than actual closer “Reprogram“, with its more emotional lyricism and songwriting that feels like a moment of convergence between the album’s many different sounds. I truly wish the album ended with this, as it’s not only one of my favourites on the record, but one of the best tracks the band have penned to date. While “Reprogram” is far from a bad track, by contrast it feels like a much less satisfying way to close out a largely great album experience. I also have to quickly should out the strange Tim Henson-esque solo toward the tail end of “How Dare You Exist”, it induced a visceral stank face out of me.
Hyperdialect truly impressed me in many ways. The group have proved here that they’re more than capable of continuing on their own, and on their own terms at that. The lack of Timfy James’ (or any) clean vocals leave me wanting a little more in that regard, and some structural issues put a minor damper on my love for the album experience as a whole, Hyperdialect, more often that not, is a fantastic foray into both grime and djent. Jot Maxi has proven himself to be the rightful leader of the group with this record, and while I was once hesitant about the group’s new line-up in general, Hyperdialect has shown me I had nothing to worry about. Hyperdialect is available now via UNFD and you can purchase or stream the record here.
8.5/10