Pondering one’s own cosmic nihil from a point of astral projection set inconceivably far away from impending apocalyptic future we find the horror of massive death tolls and cultural desolation entirely small, insignificant on any such scale. Existence is a wretchedly self-important side note, a microorganismal insistence within space-time too vast to mind and unworthy of notice. Varese, Italy-based death metal trio HADIT return for a sophomore full-length album which seemingly breaches some point of acceptance of this impossible scale as they scour the universe for some manner of vision and purpose. ‘Metaphysical Engines Approaching the Event Horizon‘ is complex yet held within a persistent flow-state as a result, an album which builds upon the wrathful attack of is predecessor by creating uninterrupted channels of groove and inward-seeking exploration which may very well necessitate a prog-death caveat to the overall transformation found within. The end result is an album which bursts with its own mercurial boil, a tangential yet swimmingly realized adventure with several redeeming points of exploration worth branching off into.

Hadit formed circa 2013 wherein the original trio seems to have revolved around main songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist Xn as well as a key member of Into Coffin who’d only appeared on their first recording. The original intent of the band hasn’t drastically changed when cut back to their most skeletal features wherein the rhythms of blackened death metal are bent and braced to suit the surrealistic fascination of the composer. We get a reasonable x-ray of this in its earliest stages peering into “Astral vision of R’lyeh / Standing before Cthulhu” from their 2013 demo recordings, ‘Creating a Kult‘, though this was made all the more exciting in terms of sound design as their debut EP (‘Introspective Contemplation of the Microcosmus‘, 2015) featured crispy reverb and cavernous headspace as their rhythms became more confident and chaotic at once, riffs which’d spoken to me as a fan of groups like StarGazer, Immolation and especially Bølzer at that particular time. Their version of that world was yet raw, often harried enough to get the odd war metal tag here and there, which’d been helped along by some of the earlier noted production values per Gabriele Gramaglia (Cosmic Putrefaction, Vertebra Atlantis) who has long been their go-to engineer and now officially joins the band on bass guitar/synth for this new album.

The greater lens of the inauspicious underground took more serious note of Hadit‘s work when the band would finally realize their debut full-length album (‘With Joy and Ardour Through the Incommensurable Path‘, 2021) as their musicianship and rhythmic command had taken on some exponential gains and the aesthetics of their craft reached a fresh high. The heady, washed-over sound design developed in the past continued to drape their recording in voluminous yet artificial space but increased precision on the leading rhythm guitar and drum presence re-characterized their sound as something almost progressive in its undertaking, relating to everything from Archgoat to classic USDM in its approach. I’d not discovered that debut until much later, having been sent the news but not the promo at the time, and did not take the time to appreciate the general progression of the band ’til I’d been hit with ‘Metaphysical Engines Approaching the Event Horizon‘ a couple of months ago. With this valuable context in mind and the whole of their discography freshly set in view we can spot the kicking and tumbling roll of drummer Fulgŭrātŏr (ex-Fuoco Fatuo) as the main carrier-through from the previous album through today alongside the major focus of rhythmic modulation which serves to bend the thrum of blackened death metal into a swerving and (again) somewhat progressive form.

Without a dedicated bass guitar presence utilized in the past Hadit wrestled with barbarous aggression in order to create spectacle rather than groove, bearing no available tiers to ascend or descend to beyond the comparatively two-dimensional plane of previous work. In this sense ‘With Joy and Ardour Through the Incommensurable Path‘ was a reasonable compositional peak, a realization of habits and techniques dating back to 2013 or earlier. With ‘Metaphysical Engines Approaching the Event Horizon‘ their work becomes third-dimensioned per a host of reasons. First and perhaps most notably is the growling yet clean bass guitar presence which readily stirs the cyclone of their work up on opener “Becoming the Light Eternally Travelling on the Photon Sphere” as they lead with one of their more outwardly transcendentally-aimed pieces to start. Beyond its leading groove we can identify a phenomenal leap in production values, an immediate highlight of leaps and bounds made by Gramaglia in just these last few years as his own engineering and rendering skills accumulate polish and nuance. The band’s songwriters match this ante-up with additional layers of synth deployed throughout the first several songs, far more dynamic tempo maps (see: “Interstellar Mediums Rhapsody”) and a sound which becomes increasingly difficult to lend out in comparison to others.

The depth of this initial plunge in hits an impressive first plateau as “Three Ways of Death After Gravitational Collapse” continues to twist and wrangle up what appears to be a convoluted rhythmic statement at a glance but manages a fairly easily read surrealistic groove, tempering its own speed with hypnotic inward-seeking motions and increasingly bold clean vocals including chorales which reach the ceiling of this otherwise centralized sense of space. The universe only continues to expand as Side A develops its depth within the first four songs on the album but as soon as we hit “Find Your Death, Cosmic Wreckage” we find a more direct refinement of the style explored on the previous album as well as a shot of speed heading into the heavier, increasingly dissonant stretches of Side B; The odd meter, celestial synth, eagle screams and darkly tunneling grooves of “Blood and Gods Know Where Weakness Is” helps make it one of my personal favorite songs on the album beyond the more Immolation-esque shots taken (“Del Tramonto Sul Nulla, Dove Fuoco Diventa Cielo”, “Screaming From the Throat of a Reversed Light Being”), a highlight for the second half which seems to confirm this is decidedly more of a progressive death metal album overall and a pretty unique one. That particular song also features guest vocals from Andread Collaro from Devoid of Thought, the second of three guests including folks from Black Oath and Nubivagant with each bringing their own unique voice to this bizarre full-fledged evolution of Hadit‘s sound.

Atmospheric, progressive, brutal, groove-built, blasting, psychedelic, challenging and always active with some manner of adventurous or tunefully layered piece… the galaxy-brained vision Hadit presents here threatens to read as over-thought for the sake of its unexpectedly broad scope and easygoing expression. As the full listen begins to form in mind the puzzle pieces float loosely in place and the main saving grace of the experience is its avoidance of sharp-edged technical death movement wherein they’ve found a more progressive, or, steadily flowing sense of rhythm on this album. Hard edged but never gruff or flatly interruptive of its own focus the bulk of ‘Metaphysical Engines Approaching the Event Horizon‘ is approachable even at its most atmospheric, and substantial even when the riffs begin to fire off at their most intense succession. The trade-off for all of this experiential gusto and spectacular atmospheric berth is a lack of directly tuneful songwriting. For the prog-death attuned black/death enjoyer seeking a modern yet substantial approach to this type of music it should ring as serious pollination for their ears, though I’d guess a general audience would find this album a bit involved, a star-gazing introspective trip beyond. Figure for yourself if what works or doesn’t per your own tastes, I’d found this album was appreciably broad in its spectrum of brilliant instrumental moments, a notable amount of vocal variety, and a supremely anchored rhythm section who carry out this newest stage of evolution for the band with great confidence. While I did ultimately have to question the long-term potential of this album without any truly lasting hooks Hadit have nonetheless done well to evolve and transcend on this second full-length. A high recommendation.

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