Hung Invades Boston

I first heard about Hung, an NYC-based metal band with an electric violinist, two years ago. As a string player and metalhead, here was a combination of two of my favorite things, and I quickly set out to learn more about them. Once I had, much to my delight, I found out that Hung is really good.

Back then, the only available recording was their demo, Matter of the Blood, which unfortunately isn’t a strong representation of their capabilities. However, when they later released their EP, Progeny, – a professionally recorded effort that does represent them well – I snapped up a copy and fell in love with it.

“It would be great to catch these guys live,” I thought. “I’d really like to see how a violinist plays with a metal band!”

Unfortunately, I lived in Ohio at that time which was uncommon touring ground of theirs, so the closest I could get to them was their website or MySpace page. Of course, that’s not close at all. Luckily for me, I’ve moved to Boston, so I was able to go to their March 8th show at O’Brien’s in Allston.

Hung was third in the night’s lineup. I watched the first two bands secretly hoping their sets would be short (which they weren’t), but had to wait some more after they played while Hung wrestled with an equipment problem. The anticipation was driving me crazy. Thankfully, Hung did not disappoint.

They tore the room a new asshole from the first note. Their rhythmically precise, thick yet distinct layers of sound buried the audience in absolute fury. It was clear that all five band members deeply care about their music and they were hungry to spread it to another city.

Electric violinist Lyris Hung, the band’s namesake, played masterfully. She stepped out of the mix to take haunting solos laden with artificial harmonics, threw melodies on top of everything, embellished the guitar and basslines and lay down in the groove as part of the rhythm section, nicely combining the chunky tone of her Bogner Uberschall amplifier with the rest of the band. My only complaint is that in the beginning of the show, she blended so well with her bandmates that it was impossible to hear her!

Bassist Sam Roon, co-founder of skullsnbones.com and nonelouder.com, expertly maintained the rhythmic connection with the drums while always finding another line that augmented the violin and guitar parts. For Roon, the common guitar-bass doublings that most bands employ were more like a last resort than a modus operandi. His voice was apparent melodically at the same time as it hit me in the chest and rattled my teeth. It was very refreshing since this juxtaposition is sadly uncommon in today’s metal world.

Frontman Dmitry Kostitsyn’s growls and clean vocals have definitely improved in the time since Progeny was recorded (late summer 2007). On the EP, his vocals have a very raw and unrefined sound, which works in context, but at the show his voice was much stronger and sounded even more inhuman. It gave the whole band a more confident and complete sound.

The man on the drum throne only recently joined the band, but he played the set as if he’d been with them since the beginning. He was on top of all the shifting feels and meters, not to mention the polyrhythms and hits. Without a doubt, Hung was the tightest band that night. The other bands chaotically spewed their energy into the air, but Hung focused theirs and put it exactly where they wanted it.


Their music avoids all the traps that plague the metal genre. There are no mindlessly repeated sections, puny and unmusical riffs, tasteless breakdowns or incessant chugs on the low guitar strings. Even though Roon and guitarist “Evil Jon” Clark have low B strings on their instruments, they don’t play them often. Therefore, when they do, it’s all the more satisfying.

All but one of the songs they played come from Progeny. The exception being the one written about Ivan the Terrible’s resurrection “and your [subsequent] demise,” Kostitsyn snarled. Even though they didn’t announce it as such, I’m certain that this is a new song since it sharply differs from the rest of their set. On the surface, its virtuosity and breakneck speed outpace Progeny’s fastest passages, but on a deeper level, it felt as if it had been written during a brand new, more developed stylistic period.

Hung is a band that will surely continue to mature, and not necessarily in the “faster, heavier and more br00tal” direction. Theirs is a road focused on the music, or more specifically, focused on strengthening the connection between heaviness and musicality. They’re not a band who could be satisfied with complacency and standing still. What they’ve done so far is good by any account, but expect their upcoming work to be great.

Hung will return to Boston on Friday, March 27th for an 18+ show at Bill’s Bar. Until then, check them out on MySpace or Hungrocks.com.


P.S. Just to hammer one more nail into the coffin of the idea that violinists shouldn’t play through guitar amps: Lyris Hung is endorsed by Bogner and plays through an Uberschall – and she sounds awesome.


Photos courtesy of myspace.com/hungrocks.

Metal Bands with Strings

While I think it’s great that strings are becoming more prevalent in non-classical genres, sometimes I feel like string players cross styles to dabble in a fad rather than because they feel compelled to break from their roots. However, I get a real thrill when I find ones who’ve made the jump for the love of the style and, more importantly, can hold their own while they do it.

I’ll be honest: I love metal, and I love hearing metalhead string players play in straight-ahead metal bands. That’s what the people below do, so I think they’re pretty f%ckin’ rad. That's right, I just said "rad."

Lyris Hung
Juilliard graduate, session violinist, and otherwise versatile musician from NYC. In addition to founding the progressive death/black metal band Hung, she plays with comedienne/actress/writer Kate Rigg in the stage show Birth of a nASIAN and in their trip-hop comedy/music duo, Slanty Eyed Mama.
Very much worth noting is her Scythe steel electric violin commissioned from sculptor/luthier Erich Meatleg. See it in action by clicking on the picture above.

• LyrisHung.com
  
• Lyris Hung on MySpace
  
• Hungrocks.com
  
• Hung on MySpace
  
• Interview with Aub Driver
  
• Slanty Eyed Mama
  

Tina Guo
Extremely talented, 22-year-old cellist from LA with an impressive international concert schedule of classical music and a drool-worthy résumé of non-classical projects, not the least of which (in my opinion) is starting the rock/metal band, Off the Deep End.
She plays Yamaha Silent Electric Cellos and is endorsed by Carvin (for her amp) and Coffin Case (do Yamaha Silent Electrics really fit in those?).

• TinaGuo.com
  
• Tina Guo on MySpace
  
• Tina Guo on YouTube
  
• Innerviewworld interview
  
• Off the Deep End on MySpace
  

Max Lilja and Aino Piipari from Hevein
Hevein is a six-piece heavy metal band from Finland with the standard guitar, bass, vocals and drums instrumentation plus Lilja on cello and Piipari on violin.
Lilja is one of the founding members of Apocalyptica, but in 2002, he left that group and joined Hevein. I’m not sure if he left Apocalyptica in order to join Hevein or if he left for other reasons. He also plays in the Finnish band Tekijä Tuntematon, tours with Tarja Turunen (formerly of Nightwish) and does session work. In videos of Hevein, he is playing an acoustic cello, presumably one with a StringAmp system since he is mentioned on their website.

The violinist, Aino Piipari, plays in the band Kiova in addition to Hevein. Like Lilja, she uses an acoustic instrument. Unfortunately, I found very little else about her.

• Hevein on MySpace
  
• Hevein.com
  
• Bio at Spinefarm Records
  

Another thing these people have in common is that they’re not afraid to take a solo, which is like pulling teeth to us string players most of the time. How refreshing!

(Photo by Izzy Peskowitz, courtesy of www.hungrocks.com)