Listen, there’s no denying the place of Peter Tägtgren and Hypocrisy in the pantheons of metal over the last almost 30 years. I personally hold Penetralia, Osculum Obscenum, and The Fourth Dimension in super high regard with the latter arguably being the peak of their career as they shifted into more melodic death metal realms (though I really have a soft spot for a couple of tracks on Osculum Obscenum).
But post Abducted, I’m just kind of ‘OK’ with their discography, even the post break up stuff after The Final Chapter, was consistent, yet just decent. Heck, even the redo of Catch 22 was pretty well done, but a clear sign Peter had initially shit the bed with that album. But the last few ‘bed un-shitting’ efforts, 2004s The Arrival, 2005s Virus, 2009s A Taste of Extreme Divinity and 2013s End of Disclosure (which we didn’t even cover), barely registered with me, and I can honestly say I haven’t listened to them in the last 8 years, despite their supposed ‘return to form’ status. And frankly, 2005s Virus is the only 2000s album that any sort of impact with me.
So I guess my above paragraph is a long-winded way of asking “Do we really need another Hypocrisy album after an 8-year layoff”?
Well, we got one anyway, and while the UFO/Alien elements have been lessened and now injected with real-world themes and conspiracies that Peter has percolated over the 2 crazy years, the fact is, he has knocked out yet another consistently ‘OK’ Hypocrisy album that follows a similar format if you’ve heard any album since 2005. On the bright side, it appears he is also trying to recreate a little of The Fourth Dimension‘s magic with a slightly deeper vocal approach mixed with his raspy shrieks and the end result is the third album in a row, I kinda dig here in the now, but will forget in a week and not listen to for 8 years.
Worship has everything you’ve come to expect from a modern Hypocrisy album; Perfectly crunchy, clean production, with a few blazing-fast, hacking and slashing songs like “Worship”, “Another Day” (which is actually one of the most entertaining songs Hypocrisy has delivered in the last few efforts) and mid-paced crunchers like “Greedy Bastards”, “Dead World”, “They Will Arrive”, “Brotherhood of the Serpent” and “Gods of the Underground”. And of course, the now trademark slower, moodier, sinister, keyboard-laden numbers that he has perfected and seems to repurpose for every album (here it’s the interchangeable quartet of “Chemical Whore”, “We’re the Walking Dead”, “Bug in the Net”, “Children of the Grey”).
Worship certainly feels a little like The Fourth Dimension‘s distant relative, with its emphasis on the slower, moodier songs that try hard at recalling “Apocalypse” and “The Fourth Dimension”, classic tracks that set the bar for slow moody, Sci fi themed melodic death metal. But still, I don’t know if anyone other than die-hard Hypocrisy fans will be listening to this album by year’s end, even with a cool promotional video where the album was launched into space….
