ALBUM REVIEW: Ihlo - Union

UK djent/prog metal band Ihlo originally released Union in 2019. It has been given an October 11th re-release through Kscope, with the album remastered by Acle Kahney of Tesseract, and two bonus live recordings from ProgPower Europe 2023.

Originally recording the album as a three piece, Ihlo comprised Andy Robison on vocals, Phil Monro on guitar, and Clark McMenemy on drums. Since then, the band has expanded with the additions of Rob Mair on guitar and Michael Roberts on bass. 

Union generally follows the djent/prog metal template, a journey of heavy, melodic and emotional passages with electronic experimentation, ambient parts and pop hooks. Ihlo definitely wear their influences on their sleeve. Opening title track Union starts with an ambient intro with a guitar riff similar in tone to Devin Townsend’s Terria album, with the song itself sounding like a track that Tesseract would compose. Second track, and lead single Reanimate is more influenced by Themata era Karnivool and Caligula’s Horse. It’s where you start to hear the range of Andy Robison’s vocals. The chorus is extremely catchy. If you’re a fan of the genre, you’ll be humming it for ages. 

The next three tracks, Starseeker, Hollow and Triumph have more ambient parts in them. Hollow is the ballad of the album, subtle verses with a massive chorus. It’s where the vocals are at their most powerful on the album. Triumph is again influenced heavily by Devin Townsend. Parhelion and Coalescence, the last two tracks, are in my opinion the best on the album. The band are given chance to show how good they are as musicians, especially on epic 15-minute closer Coalescence. It very much has a Haken style, but still with the Devin Townsend ambience. 

It was interesting to hear the live tracks, (which are In Stasis/Starseeker and Hollow) and to see how they sounded as a five piece and without the multi-layering of the vocals on the album. They definitely sound great live. The album has a lot of programming done, maybe partly because of them only being a three piece when recording the album, the djent/prog metal genre tends to do that, but it won’t agree with metal fans who prefer a rawer sound. Also, on the more subtle parts of songs, occasionally you feel like the singer is performing in a tacky TV talent show, you might grit your teeth a little. Overall, the album sounds amazing, and the remastering has made the album sound punchier and meatier, very much an improvement, and with prog label heavyweight K-Scope now pushing the album, Ihlo might start to get more recognition. They would go down well supporting the likes of fellow UK bands Tesseract and Haken. 

There’s nothing wrong with emulating your heroes, but if on future releases they could put their own stamp on their songs, I think they could achieve some success in the future.

Union is released on 11th October via Kscope Records.

Review by Mick Simpson