Review:

on 2011-02-26 CharlesMartel Said:

I have read a lot of reviews of this album and have to say that most of them are talking bollocks. So, seeing as my Sioux name is Talking Bollocks it is about time I contributed. Let's start by shooting down a few claims.

Claim 1 - This sounds like the Smashing Pumpkins. Bollocks!
Claim 2 - This is shoegaze. Bollocks!
Claim 3 - This is post-rock. Bollocks!
Claim 4 - This is ambient. Bollocks!

Who cares what this is, what label you want to put to it? It has a dense heavy sound which will appeal to a metalhead. It has layers of guitar which will appeal to a shoegazer. It has its quiet-slow moments which will appeal to a grungie (or whatever). It has melody and rhythm which will appeal to most everybody else. So why doesn't it? In a world where everyone wants to pigeonhole music, Hum doesn't fit.

Musically, this album is brimming with ideas. The themes of the songs may relate to the spacey side of lyric writing, but they fit the sound. Take the descriptive line

"The time machine won't power down"

off "Ms. Lazarus" as an example. Or just listen to "The Inuit Promise". Those tracks are the two best on the album, and the rolling riff of "Ms. Lazarus" underpinned by that constant throbbing bassline is just delicious.

Yet don't be fooled. This album is not going to be an easy listen. The first tracks start off with a decent melody and then belts you straight across the face with a wall of guitar sound. Heavy is the feeling from then on in, with a few exceptions. But this is no thrash effort - "Apollo" is as good a ballad as you will find. Yet the band seemed to have taken a lot of influences from across the decades of the more innovative forms of rock music and then married them to a hard rock, almost metal structure to create their sound. That perhaps explains why talking bollocks is such a favourite pastime among those who have discussed this album.

This was the band's last album. It would appear they over reached themselves with this. If the stories are true, then they certainly overstretched the patience of the record company who signed them for the whole album was apparently recorded twice as the band was dissatisfied with the first take. Whether they were satisfied with the second take is not recorded. They should be. Without creating any truly outstanding songs, they have created an album which is worth listening to time and time again. Without creating any new musical styles they have created a sound which is as unexpected the tenth time you hear it as the first. Without making it into the third millennium, they have managed to create an album which, had it come out three years later, would have been the first true classic of the 21st century.
Rating: 8/10

on 2009-04-09 SolitaryMan Said:

I have a feeling I would have enjoyed this band/album had I come across them some years ago, but that doesn't detract much from how good I think this album is. Comparisons to the Pumpkins are justified but Hum brings more technical prowess, and dirge-like songwriting, and when you couple those assets you get a very spacey, progressively-tilted and crushing album. Thanks for the rec Dennis, took me awhile to check it out but it was worth it.
Rating: 8/10

Review:

on 2007-04-13 christopherdrew Said:

'Downward Is Heavenward' is indeed a classic. Sci-fi lyrics without becoming too prog, and a guitar distortion mixed with hooks and melody that equal (if not outright DSTROY) anything that the Pumpkins were putting out then. I still listen to this album and get shivers.
Rating: 10/10

Review:

on 2007-04-09 hstisgod Said:

nicely done... TERRIFIC ALBUM!
Rating: 10/10