By Killjoy
Despite the importance that many metal and rock subgenres place on instrumentation, music without vocals often proves a tough nut to crack. Without the inherent structure that generally comes from writing vocal lines or the unique individuality of a human voice, it’s difficult to grab—much less keep—a listener’s attention. Still, that doesn’t stop a multitude of artists from reaching for a slice of the wordless glory. The latest of these is Hiroe, a newcomer post-rock group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, releasing their debut full-length Wield (following an EP, Wrought, in 2022). With promotional material describing a diverse, expansive, and epic writing approach, Hiroe is poised to offer a maximalist take on a traditionally minimalist genre.
Wield is indeed diverse, containing many of the various touchstones under the expansive post-rock umbrella. As is typical of instrumental acts, Hiroe principally relies on a three-pronged guitar alliance (Eric Kusanagi, Brian Kong, and Jill Paslier) to construct and embellish the music. On the one hand are serene, luscious melodies designed to ruffle the heartstrings similarly to pg.lost or Caspian. On the other hand are dense post-metal guitar clusters favored by Pelican and Isis. But somewhere in the middle of these two extremes, they reveal progressive inclinations, which is where bassist Jon Seiler and drummer Dan Sagherian shine the most, their knotty rhythms adding depth and complexity.
Hiroe seems indecisive about targeting the heart or the head and misses both. Not completely, of course, and Wield does start off promisingly. “The Calm” opens with a gorgeous, glassy melody that artfully evokes feelings of eagerness as it accumulates layer after layer. But soon these hopes are quite literally crushed by the thick, slow wall of post-metal guitar chords of “Tides.” The wall eventually cracks open and a ringing guitar lead spills forth, but Wield never properly follows through on the lush beauty teed up in the intro track or evokes much of an emotional response from me. Attempts at intellectual stimulation don’t often connect either. “Collider” is the most promising from a technical standpoint, opening with an intricate, swirling guitar melody that dazzles at first but tends to overpower the other instruments as it reoccurs. It rarely feels like the three guitarists and the bassist fully realize the rich, multilayered compositions for which Hiroe is aiming.
However, what most impedes Wield is an imbalance between repetition and progression. Disappointingly, in this regard, Wield is heavily weighted towards the former. There are some genuinely compelling melodies, but they tend to span too many minutes. The record is composed of only six tracks, all of which (save for the intro) are at least seven minutes long, and none warrant their lengthy runtime. To keep things moving along, the more homogeneous songs should have been shortened (“I’ve Been Waiting for You All My Life,” “Dancing at the End of the World”), whereas “Collider” could have been cleanly split into two separate songs. The back half of the album feels particularly listless, the exception being the fuzzy and chunky guitar distortion of “The Crush,” but, again, each passage lingers too long. It may appear unfair or even antithetical to criticize post-rock for repetition, but for a free-form instrumental variation to transcend background music, each individual passage must foster a natural continuity with the next without overstaying its welcome.
Ultimately, Wield proved to be a frustrating experience. I enjoy much of the music during a given moment, but it rarely feels like the constituent elements come together in a satisfying way. Though I can appreciate Hiroe’s attempt to expand the horizons of post-rock and post-metal, this repetitive long-form songwriting strategy is not working for me. Despite the overall tone of this review, I don’t actually dislike Wield, but I’m simply unmoved. That said, die-hard fans of the genre may well find more to enjoy than I did. Each member of Hiroe is a talented musician, and they’ll likely be a force to be reckoned with after maturing as composers.
Rating: 2.0/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 192 kbps mp3
Label: Pelagic Records
Websites: hiroe.bandcamp.com | hiroemusic.com | facebook.com/hiroemusic
Releases Worldwide: June 20th, 2025
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