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Hackberry: Breathing Space
 In theory, I should love this album. Instead, I only like it.
It ticks all the usual boxes for me. It’s instrumental. It’s heavy, sometimes very heavy. It’s spacey in parts. It has intricate playing at times. The songs are long. Also, a friend with similar musical tastes highly recommended it.
But … I just couldn’t get into it as I expected. And the frustrating part is that I couldn’t quite put my finger on why. I think I finally understand: I found it a bit fatiguing on the ears. The album is nearly 50 minutes long, but I think they really had material for only 40. I went back and listened to their previous, self-titled album (their debut full-length release) and I enjoyed it more. I think the difference was they had more ideas and they didn’t try to make every song stretch past 10 minutes, like on Breathing Space. Again, I like long songs but sometimes 16 minutes is just too much, as with the opener, “Lunares.”
Don’t get me wrong. Despite its flaws, in my view, it’s a good album. And I think this Dutch band (comprised of Chris Bechtum on drums, Francesco Bonardi and Marijn de Boer on guitars, Tim Hidskes on keyboards, and Simon Venema on bass) has much promise. They certainly have the chops, but they could benefit from a greater focus on composition and concision. Sometimes less really is more and I just found that to be the case with Breathing Space.
Track Listing
1. Lunares (15:48)
2. Solitary March (10:21)
3. Foreshadow (11:44)
4. Manticore (12:06)
Added: November 18th 2024
Reviewer: Aaron Steelman
Score:  
Related Link: Band @ Bandcamp
Hits: 856
Language: english
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Hackberry: Breathing Space
Posted by Steven Reid, SoT Staff Writer on 2024-11-18 23:37:59
My Score:
Album number two from Dutch instrumental progressive rock outfit Hackberry is my first encounter with this 5 piece and right from the off you know that this is a band who have found their niche. Opening track “Lunares” hits hard, but never with a carefree swipe at everything it sees. Instead, there’s a real ebb and flow here and a confidence behind it all that allows the heavy, psych-space-stoner-prog metal to breathe as the dynamics shift from full throttle to a faint whisper on the wind.
With only 4 tracks, 50 minutes are still covered and while my learned friend above found things to maybe lose focus, or certainly struggle to hold his attention across this timeframe, it’s not an issue I’ve encountered. “Solitary March” uses its 10 minutes wisely, beginning small and contained before, without ever really changing somehow, growing into a swirling beast. Technically Chris Bechtum (drums), Francesco Bonardi (guitars), Marijn de Boer (guitars), Tim Hidskes (keyboards) and Simon Venema (bass) fit their chosen approach like an ice cream stuffed perfectly into a cone, with the interplay between all five - and especially the two fret-masters - where the real pay-off often lies.
“Foreshadow” displays a little melancholy and a more obvious progressive metal riff edged attack, but as elsewhere, it’s the ability of Hackberry to combine some intricately technical workouts to a few more obvious passages that really turn these tracks into wordless songs. “Manticore” closes things out, the heavier approach returning but with no less drama, as the keyboards really make their presence felt - but more by way of intriguing counterpoint than flurries of mind-bending solos.
Breathing Space is a remarkably accomplished statement from a band who deserve to be making bigger waves in the progressive instrumental scene than they appear to have so far. Hopefully there’s much more to come from them.
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