Despite coughing up eight chunks of defiant, world-weighted estrangement and a handful of despairing lows as they truck through thier debut full-length album Portland, Oregon-based heavy rock trio HÖG appear high on life and getting theirs on ‘Blackhole‘. Formed just a few years ago and road-readied soon after these folks’ve done well to make the connection between the heavy blues driven swing of the early 70’s and their own punkish take on doom-rock per this surprisingly well-formed LP. The effect is simple enough and the viscera of their work isn’t exactly mind-bending as a feat yet all of it hits for the sake of the considerable energy they’ve cranked into the void here.

The face value read on I’d put on my first spin of ‘Blackhole‘ was something like peak Zeke meets (early) Budgie with some late 90’s/early 2000’s LA-area punk n’ roll somewhere in mind. Their work seems to translate the post-millennium boogie rock shake on early 70’s high energy heavy blues and maybe even the punkish side of 90’s stoner rock/metal… not too far from labelmates Deathchant in spirit. This level of energetic buzz wasn’t fully fleshed outright, though, as the band’s self-titled debut cassette/EP (‘Hög‘, 2022) from a few years back carried more of a psychedelic garage punk edge to it which’d collided with guitarist/vocalist Daniel‘s jammed and kinda winged-out, Wipers-esque digs via effects scrabbling leads and some more classic heavy psych riff n’ roll at higher speed. That EP is worth checking out for the sake of context and features an earlier version of the song “Free” which they’ve closed this new album with.

Hög admirably kick things off swinging via a few high energy shots here but you’re not getting the full effect of their gig outright. You’ll get the 70’s references right away via some of their bluesier licks and such but a more tentative Sabbath groove takes a song or two to start flaring up. To my ear their bones are kinda basic enough as they throttle past but a song like opener “Don’t Need You” doesn’t need to be all that deep in statement up front when it brings a real opener-worthy ride. Are the lyrics a commentary on the individualist, self-cannibalized culture of the “first world” today, or is it just a general flipping of the bird? There is an old soul acknowledging hard times on ‘Blackhole‘ and it is communicated through songs that’re wrenched between frustration and joy alike, but (again) you’ll have to get past the first couple of high-energy hot burners before you start soak in the full brine of their tone.

While the opener is class the metalpunk twanging of “Life Too Late” right afterward is droll in shape but sharply stated, a piece which only functions to hold the momentum beyond the sprint-and-gasping chase we’d started out with. For my own taste “Blackhole” is where the full listen starts to hold water as a ride through, maybe more of a doom rocker with some Zeppelin-esque stunting and, to my ear, some of the bounding hassle of Black Wizard to a lesser degree. If my points of reference appear all over the place here it is for the sake of addressing well-trodden territory in an interesting way. “Bring You Down” is one of the better examples of standard movements that’re slung with enough swaggering energy that they hit even if they don’t necessarily stick. The real boon of interest here is a psychedelia-tinged, punkish voice fused with boogie-sped action and I suppose that translates to a “vibe” that carries through the full listen. There is a believable enough personae to glean from the whole event and probably a pretty good live band behind it.

The energy is high throughout the full listen of ‘Blackhole‘ and the mood is punk n’ roll adjacent to my ear, an act of self-extraction and idealism etched with some nihil in acceptance. “My Mind (is Getting Heavy)” is the final comedown in this sense, adding to the swaggering lament found on “Bring You Down” and especially the first minute of (standout) “Shallow Earth”, each one making their peace with the self and the rest of the junkpile from different angles. I found this record was all impact and never fully found a path through beyond their more action oriented, bolting-and-wailing movement. With that said the pairing of “My Mind…” with “Shallow Earth” comprises the major impact of the full listen as each lean into a harder-jammed, bluesier tension where Hög‘re at their best.

Most gripes are minor enough here, nothing worth harping on. Between an organic sounding render and kinetic performances ‘Blackhole‘ is a damn good time for my own taste, an easy record to hang out with for a half hour which does well to communicate a straight forward hard/heavy rock palette, a clear enough point of view which is consistent in tone and temperament as we get to know the Hög‘s range via this debut. If you’re prone to stoke on power trio tenderized interplay there is a lot to like here, too, even if the full listen reads like a guitar album first and foremost the whole deal is enough of a fleet and fast moving jam that the their quick n’ dirty chemistry works. I’ll definitely remember the band more than the songs here in the long run but a few ear-catching standouts made this one worthwhile. A moderately high recommendation.

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