Hollow 
by Mark Hensch

I was once lucky enough to take a trip to Beijing, China, and the completely alternative culture present there inspired me to love all things Chinese. That trip rightfully changed my outlook on life, and since that time I've met many Chinese pen-pals, read up on Chinese history, and searched high-and-low for Chinese movies, music, books, ect. Mainly music. Mainly metal. 

I'm a big metal fan, and I was excited when I finally met a Chinese metalhead who speaks English well enough to accommodate my searching of the surprisingly vast and thriving Chinese metal scene. Guitarist Brian lived most of his life in America, before returning to his ancestral homeland in China and starting (along with Florian and Julian, Germany-imported guitarist and drummer, respectively) the band Hollow in 2003. The trio later found Chinese born bassist Gao Bo Qian and lead vocalist (Brian does some clean backing vocals) Hunzi. The quintet began playing as many clubs in the Chinese-mainland as possible, performing large numbers of booking left and right. 

I stumbled across Brian and the rest of Hollow at a time that couldn't be better for a brand-new fan like myself. Hollow recently became the first "underground" (i.e. unsigned) metal band in Chinese history to do a full tour of the Chinese mainland. Despite playing packed shows to starving metalheads, the band somehow managed to record a three song demo, a taste of what is to come from Hollow's future and a CD distributed freely to fans at the band's various shows, or via their website.

This thankfully bold form of insemination to a wider audience allows me to digest Hollow's Silence... demo with great ease. It is exceedingly strange talking to Hollow's guitarist and finding we are twelve-to-fourteen hours apart. Regardless of where you live, Silence... presents the listener with a sound thrashing of old-school heavy-metal; the Bay Area thrash sound of the 1980's is highly apparent (older Metallica being a solid point of reference, and the band occasionally playing Metallica covers at their shows) as well as the chugging riffage of Pantera and maybe a bit of Megadeth's straight-rock approach, circa Rust in Piece. Though covering no more than nine minutes, the demo is sweet and surprisingly enjoyable; one or two listens alone will show you why Hollow's guitarist Brian once referred to the Hollow sound as "mosh metal" during a review for prominent Chinese music site rockinchina.com. 

"Iron Lungs" kicks things off with nice thrash, the kind you can have a damn good shove pit to. Making the song even cooler, bassist Gao Bo Qian peppers the track liberally with funky bass lines, something that sticks well and seems oddly fitting. The song alternates between a thrashier chorus with growling vocals (someone I know pointed out how much it sounds like earlier Sepultara) and sinks into a groove-riff chorus that would do Pantera proud and lets Brian stretch into some squeaky-clean, melodic vocals that add a sense of fraility to the song. "No Reason" sums up what a mosh-tune should be. "No Reason" behind it but the mosh! Again the bass shows an abnormal amount of funky energy, and it sticks out like a sore thumb. The song even kicks a brief breakdown in your face, leaving you down for the count just as song number three starts. "Steps to the Future" is an excellent instrumental track, featuring catchy, upbeat, and energetic guitar licks and a surprisingly solid clean passage of guitar riffs here and there with warm, free-floating bass notes. Reminds me of Trivium's last CD in a way, but with no hardcore influences. A pitch out of left field, and an exceedingly strong end to a sweet treat of a demo.

Despite it's horribly short length, little fault if any can be found in Silence... It has the calm, cocksure innocence people used to have in radio-friendly metal, and the straight-up mesh of rock-solid metal with catchy hooks and a refreshingly upbeat series of lyrics and musical tone make Hollow's demo a diamond in the rough. China is infamous for it's obscure, hard to penetrate heavy metal scene, but no more. Take some time to download this demo and you'll have a slice of positive, smile-inducing, melodic thrash that can do no wrong. Now we just need an American tour and a full-length debut. Coming soon?

Hollow - Silence

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