{"id":790182,"date":"2026-10-03T00:54:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T00:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/790182\/"},"modified":"2026-10-03T00:54:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T00:54:10","slug":"hippotraktor-annihilist-review-angry-metal-guy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/790182\/","title":{"rendered":"Hippotraktor – Annihilist Review | Angry Metal Guy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"In 2024, Belgian quintet Hippotraktor dropped Stasis<\/a>, a monolithic blend of post-metal atmosphere, progressive ambition and groovy heft\u2014somewhere between Psychonaut, The Ocean and Meshuggah\u2014that quickly earned them recognition, even landing on year-end lists. Their knack for hitting the sweet spot where djent, post-metal and prog collide set a high bar and third album, Annihilist, now seeks to surpass it by refining the group\u2019s identity, the mystery behind their name, and the ongoing narrative of their nameless protagonist from the prior two releases. This chapter finds him suspended between solitude and humanity, fully aware of this forced, cyclical reincarnation and locked in rebellion against the entity that condemns him to do it.<\/p>\n

Annihilist feels like wandering through a vast brutalist landscape. The album feels markedly colder and more distant, scraping with the coarseness of a pumice stone while reshaping the smoothness and refined textures of its predecessor into something denser and more immediate. Every track sits within a concise four-to-seven-minute range, never overstaying its welcome, and despite the shift in tone, the qualities that made Stasis so compelling remain firmly embedded in Hippotraktor\u2019s DNA. One moment they drift through delicate passages that fall like raindrops against a windowpane; the next they erupt into towering walls of sound, unleashing seismic roars as crushing as collapsing concrete. \u201cA Different Now,\u201d \u201cI Breathe. I Am\u201d and \u201cBuilder of Eden\u201d carry a primal, untamed energy, yet beneath the chaos lies a clear purpose. Their rhythmic backbone remains intact, with drummer Lander De Nyn\u2019s Volastic beats and Jakob Fiszer\u2019s weaving bass driving Annihilst forward, while Chiaran Verheyden and Kristof Du Jardin\u2019s guitar work blends Meshuggahan chugs, subtle harmonies, and emotionally charged leads to advance Hippotraktor\u2019s melodic knotwork even further.<\/p>\n

Annihilist by HIPPOTRAKTOR<\/a><\/p>\n

Hippotraktor\u2019s ability to balance soaring melodicism with crushing heaviness remains Annihilist\u2019s central throughline. They navigate the tension between chaos and cohesion with confidence and precision, as massive grooves, expressive vocal melodies, ritualistic percussion and explosive crescendos form the pillars of Annihilist\u2019s foundation. Whether it\u2019s the warm hooks and dynamic zenith of \u201cI Breathe. I Am\u201d or \u201cEverything is Permissable,\u201d the techy riffs of \u201cOblivion Walker,\u201d the polyrhythmic pulse of \u201cCourageous Apathy,\u201d or the ancestral beat running through \u201cBuilder of Eden\u201d and \u201cA Different Now,\u201d Hippotraktor excel at guiding listeners through complex terrain without ever losing direction. Verheyden and Du Jardin\u2019s background harmonies in \u201cOblivion Walker\u201d or \u201cCourageous Apathy,\u201d and their tastefully understated lead work in \u201cAnnihilist\u201d and \u201cA Different Now,\u201d provide added depth, enriching the djent heft without overshadowing it, while De Nyn\u2019s phenomenal drumming\u2014funky hi-hat work (\u201cBuilder of Eden\u201d), dancing rhythms (\u201cCourageous Apathy\u201d) and complex patterns\u2014lend the record a distinct weight and identity that sets Hippotraktor apart from the countless Tool acolytes of the world.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Unlike Stasis, vocalist Stefan De Graef and Kristof Du Jardin co-wrote the vocal arrangements on Annihilist, resulting in a dual approach that pushes Hippotraktor\u2019s sound forward. Their soaring cleans and burly growls carry much of the album\u2019s emotional weight, with tracks such as \u201cI Breathe. I Am,\u201d the title track, and \u201cEverything is Permissable\u201d delivering memorable hooks and sing-a-long melodies that immediately draw you in. Multi-layered harmonies (\u201cA Different Now\u201d), chants (\u201cI Breathe. I Am\u201d), and subtle baritone choral passages (\u201cCourageous Apathy\u201d) add further dramatic depth, and a guest appearance by Lo\u00efc Rossetti (ex-The Ocean) on \u201cBuilder of Eden\u201d fits the track\u2019s mood perfectly. The production highlights these nuances despite the album\u2019s density. While heavily compressed and occasionally claustrophobic, it sounds far better than its DR 6 score suggests.<\/p>\n

On Annihilist, Hippotraktor chose to refine rather than reinvent, taking the qualities that made Stasis shine and compressing it into a mold of density and emotional weight. I initially worried the songwriting felt too episodic and would have benefited from a bit more breathing room. Likewise, I was concerned that the record\u2019s identity was a bit too close to its predecessor. However, repeated listens erased those doubts as the record sank its hooks within my psyche. There are no real weak points here and Hippotraktor strikes a near-perfect balance between djent, progressive, and post-metal that I simply adore. Annihilist stands as one of the year\u2019s strongest progressive metal releases and has guaranteed its presence come list season.<\/p>\n

Rating: Great
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb\/s mp3
Label: Pelagic Records<\/a>
Websites: hippotraktor.bandcamp.com<\/a> | facebook.com\/hippotraktorband<\/a>
Releases Worldwide: October 2nd, 2026<\/p>\n

\n\tGive in to Your Anger:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 2024, Belgian quintet Hippotraktor dropped Stasis, a monolithic blend of post-metal atmosphere, progressive ambition and groovy heft\u2014somewhere…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":790183,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[47816,13560,260149,164886,134404,96,260150,260151,128,260152,256826,73025,13572,132466,263,129,178406,9356,56,54,55,260153],"class_list":["post-790182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-47816","tag-4-0","tag-annihilist","tag-belgian-metal","tag-djent","tag-entertainment","tag-hippotraktor","tag-meshuggah","tag-music","tag-oct26","tag-pelagic-records","tag-post-metal","tag-progressive-metal","tag-psychonaut","tag-review","tag-reviews","tag-the-ocean","tag-tool","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-vola"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=790182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/790183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=790182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=790182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=790182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}