Holy Esque – At Hope’s Ravine

The iconic cross shimmers golden against a pristine white background. No writing, no other indication disturbs the monumental cover of At Hope's Ravine. The simplicity augurs an epochal greatness.

If anyone could ever claim the legacy of Ian Curtis, it would be Pat Hynes from Glasgow. His band Holy Esque has created a breathtaking album with At Hope's Ravine. The eleven songs blur the boundaries between religion and atheism. Holy Esque has taken on nothing less than exploring the modern relationship with spirituality. They pull it off with engaging conviction.

And yet nothing can prepare you for the intensity of the first track. The guitars flicker darkly through infinite depths, the suffering vibrato in Pat Hynes' voice goes straight to the bone. Prism is a quivering beacon, a flaming speech, a thunderous sermon.

Cold broken child on a path through the wild
Holding life on your way to the light
Whisper a way, oh my dreams they decay
On a sick dark node to your past

Rose sends crashing lightning through the sky. But even the raw power of the instrumentation does not detract from the incomparable poetry of the lyrics. The lyrics are the shimmering black jewel between the dark, dense arrangements. Pat Hynes complains, shrieks, twists and turns.

I doubt in my faith, now yours is lost in dark face
All broken lies so, I’d hope and I’d pray
Something so sweet, it’s bittered and frayed
If you love something truly now give it away

If art is the product of its environment, then this applies to hardly any other band better than Holy Esque. They reflect Glasgow's relentless sacred buildings, the concreted modernism, the raw wildness of the Scottish north. They playfully alternate between shadow and light, between melancholy and hope.

Tear gradually develops into an unofficial anthem. Hynes' voice croaks feverishly, and the guitars carve cliffs into the coast and tear apart the dark clouds. This is where Holy Esque stop to go all out. In their music, abysses open up into which you plunge – with relish.

Breathlessly, the band rushes through nocturnal streets in Silences, descending into dark catacombs with My Wilderness. They continue what the Editors and Placebo began: Holy Esque carry the legacy of Joy Division into the 21st century.

Nevertheless, the homogeneity of the album can be criticised. The songs only gradually develop an independent profile. The musical references to the dim 80s Goth are unmistakable, even if the band's own handwriting is just as present. On the other hand, At Hope's Ravine is Holy Esque's debut album. Even quiet moments like the eponymous finale At Hope's Ravine or Doll House are mastered surprisingly well by the band.

Holy Esque – At Hope’s Ravine

Release: 26/02/2016

1. Prism
2. Rose
3. Hexx
4. Covenant (Ill)
5. Silences
6. Strange
7. Doll House
8. Tear
9. My Wilderness
10. St.
11. At Hope’s Ravine