A Symphony of Despair Reawakened: So Hideous’ 10th Anniversary Revival
- Pat O Regan
- Nov 5
- 2 min read
Band: So Hideous
Album: Laurestine
Released: October 2015.
Reissued: Silent Pendulum Records
The 10th anniversary repress of Laurestine by New York City’s So Hideous is nothing short of a godsend. After years of scouring record shops and online listings in vain, I’ve finally managed to secure a copy, albeit a limited-edition repressing from the ever-reliable Silent Pendulum Records, tipped off by my fellow vinyl connoisseur, Brian Hollendyke. It didn’t come cheap, but for a record of this caliber, the sacrifice feels justified. And as it makes its transatlantic journey to my turntable, I can’t think of a better time to revisit the album, and to dive back into its raw brilliance and remind anyone still sleeping on this band exactly what they’ve been missing.
There’s a certain kind of beauty that only reveals itself when everything around it is falling apart, and Laurestine, from So Hideous, thrives within that chaos. This is not an album for casual listening, it’s a descent into a meticulously arranged storm. Every track bleeds cinematic grandeur, yet the emotional core is raw enough to leave you scraped and exposed.
From the first few minutes, Laurestine sounds like it was composed within the wreckage of an old cathedral with strings wailing, drums cracking like thunder through stone, and guitars erupting with blackened urgency. So Hideous have always flirted with the intersection of post-metal, blackgaze, and orchestral intensity, but here they’ve sharpened the blade. The result is something colossal and unsettling but not without its flaws.
Tracks like Relinquish and The True Pierce feel like a collision between one of the great composers and post-blacks' darkest moments with walls of lush symphonics twisted into shapes that scream and scowl. The strings don’t just accompany the guitars, they fight and battle with them, clawing for dominance in a mix that feels purposefully overstuffed. It’s overwhelming, but that’s the whole point here. So Hideous aren’t here to comfort you, they’re here to drown you in sound and see what’s left when you resurface, gasping for air!
There’s a cinematic discipline behind all the madness and the chaos. These songs aren’t just “tracks,” they’re movements that build towards collapse and rebirth. The vocals, half-buried and desperate, sound like exorcisms caught on tape. It’s less about lyrical clarity and more about pure human exhaustion turned into noise.
As I touched on already, Laursetine isn’t perfect. At times, its ambition overshoots its reach. The production, thick as tar can sometimes suffocate its own intricacies. You can sense moments that could have breathed if only they weren’t crushed under a wall of reverb and orchestrated chaos. But that overindulgence feels almost intentional, and in doing so, become a statement of maximalism in a world obsessed with polish and restraint. By the time the record closes, you’re not humming melodies here, you’re trying to piece yourself back together! Laursetine doesn’t offer catharsis, it offers confrontation. It’s a brutal and gorgeous collection of tracks that feel colossal and utterly epic, with this undercurrent that keeps everything beautifully hideous.
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