Along with beer made by monks and fictional detective Poirot, STEAK NUMBER EIGHT are one of Belgium’s greatest exports. The four-piece post-rock group are producers of some of the most innovative music of the times. ‘The Hutch’ comes off the back of the well-received first studio album ‘All is Chaos’. It builds on everything they have made previously, yet taking it further with a greater depth and consideration of their musicality.

The 11-track monument to sludge opens with ‘Cryogenius’: a winding progressive beauty of a track, that encompasses everything this album works for – it demolishes riff after riff like a lethargic Mastodon (the simile being apt for both the band and the prehistoric mammal). The soaring vocals of front man Brent Vasseste switch deftly between delicate melodies, growls and screamed breaks throughout the album, which gives the whole release an unrivalled complexity.

‘Photonic’ has the feeling of one of the better QOTSA riffs, taken and worked with throughout the almost 8 minutes of joy: containing a cornucopia of progression, moments that seduce and entice consistently throughout the track, with a power unsurpassed throughout every second.

The album is full of evolving dystopic moments, none more so than the penultimate track ‘Rust’ that crescendos towards its electric dissonant peak.

STEAK NUMBER EIGHT have been going since 2007. After winning a couple of competitions in Belgium with the band members aged around fifteen and a half, they have barely glanced back since, continually refining and growing in skill. They are one of the bands to watch and with an incredible stage presence, that rivals that of far more experienced bands. These are a band to keep an eye out for and as for this release they have produced one of my favorite albums this year.

Jim R